







!mI»« 1: 
B: . ■ h 

!te ^M-sssSs^^-^i'i 

\v'\\\\\\\\v»\\\ •;••>'>' • ' * 'iv 
■ 

i; 

«aii##f 

liiiSwfe: 

■• • • •> •:■' •• ;' v *> •.#:•\y:v:-;*x■' 


\'N\\ 


liSp 

iiitlli 


'VvVv 

vSN.V'.V.V 

S\A'V 


■ : . . v . • ' • v ■ ■ 

:•' ... s';'. •';, : 

• ■• .■ • ,\\\-.' »v.»\* '.\-V'';-\.'>^‘.' ^v.\v.v.^.\.\-'NW\ \\v 'A\'\\\v.v>\v\'.\\\y»v.\.vvvV>c.V vV.vi 

B|; : aaS 

■ ■;*> .liMRMiHillHBl 




b|HHB| 


m 

































COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 











































































































































































t 









































































































































. 






INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 


Volume X 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Volume III 


For all personal views set forth in this diary, or for errors 
of fact, the author alone is responsible. 


Copyright, 1922 

BY 

Indiana Historical Commission 


INDIANAPOLIS : 


WM. B. BURFORD, CONTRACTOR FOR STATE PRINTING AND BINDING 

28 I923 S 



INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 

Volume III 


A Sergeant's Diary 

in 

The World War 

The Diary of an Enlisted Member of the 

150th Field Artillery 

(Forty-Second [Rainbow] Division) 


October 27, 1917 to August 7, 1919 


By 

ELMER FRANK STRAUB 

* i 


> >. > 


Published by the 

Indiana Historical Commission 
Indianapolis 

1923 




J 



INDIANA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 

Gov. Warren T. McCray, President 
Samuel M. Foster, Vice-President 
Harlow Lindley, Secretary 

James A. Woodburn 

Charles W. Moores 

Matthew J. Walsh 

Lew M. O’Bannon 

Mrs. John N. Carey 

Kate Milner Rabb 

John W. Oliver, Ph. D., Director 
Lucy M. Elliott, Assistant Director 


( 4 ) 


C1A711010 
l , 



EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION 


Volume three of Indiana in the World War consists of a 
War Diary, kept by an Indiana man who served with the One 
Hundred and Fiftieth Field Artillery, a unit of the famous 
Forty-second (Rainbow) Division. Numerous diaries kept by 
Indiana soldiers and sailors have been filed with the Indiana 
Historical Commission, and it seems fitting to include one of 
these interesting sketches in our World War Records. 

The diary selected for this volume gives a vivid description, 
day by day, of the experiences of a man who served in the 
ranks. Mr. Straub saw twenty-two months of active serv¬ 
ice, was a member of the Battery Commander’s detail (obser¬ 
vation), scout detail, and was responsible for the sector 
sketch work on the fronts occupied by the One Hundred and 
Fiftieth Field Artillery. He was a special student in Glasgow 
University following the signing of the Armistice, and by rea¬ 
son of these various assignments had many, unusual experi¬ 
ences. A diary such as this which records the daily 
happenings of a soldier in the ranks—typical of tens of thou¬ 
sands of others, comprises one of the fundamental sources 
of study in World War History. 

October 25, 1922 

State House, Indianapolis. 

John W. Oliver, Director 
Indiana Historical Commission 


( 5 ) 


To 

My Mother and Father who, like 
thousands of parents, waited 
and bore the absence of a 
son with more love and 
of stronger heart 
than could openly 
be seen, I dedi¬ 
cate this 
diary. 


APOLOGIES 

In recopying this diary I have tried to keep 
throughout the whole work, just what was in 
the original. Consequently there are many 
changes of tense, probably in one day. This is 
explained by the fact that I had no special set 
time each day when I could sit down and write 
what was going on. I wrote during every hour 
of the day and sometimes under very trying con¬ 
ditions, when it took all I had to keep from 
throwing it away. That there are many mis¬ 
takes in spelling, especially in the names of in¬ 
dividuals and in geographical terms, I admit, 
but I sincerely hope that they will be overlooked. 

Elmer F. Straub 
September, 1922 


(0 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Page 

Introduction. 5 

Chapter I. From the University to the Army. 11 

Chapter II. France. 14 

Chapter III. The Lorraine Front..—. 39 

Chapter IV. A Training Sector. 57 

Chapter V. Up With the Guns. 78 

Chapter VI. The Champagne Front. 109 

Chapter VII. The Chateau Thierry Front. 130 

Chapter VIII. A Rest Camp. 157 

Chapter IX. The St. Mihiel Sector. 171 

Chapter X. The Meuse-Argonne Front. 191 

Chapter XI. Germany Bound. 221 

Chapter XII. My Last Two Months In Europe. 250 

Chapter XIII. In England. 276 

Chapter XIV. Scotland. 290 

Chapter XV. Travel Over the Isles. 311 

Chapter XVI. Homeward Bound. 327 

Chapter XVII. Home Again. 341 

Official Station List-. 344 

A List of Abbreviations and Expressions and their Meanings 346 


( 8 ) 





















ILLUSTRATIONS 


1. Mail on the Front. 49 

2. A “210” Shell Burst. 82 

3. “The Big Four’’. 139 

4. Gun Position in the Row of Poplars. 145 

5. Blarney Castle. 313 

6. The Sir Walter Scott . 318 












„ 







CHAPTER I 

From the University to the Army 

After leaving Indiana University in the early part of June 
1917, I was looking to be called at any time to the Second Of¬ 
ficers’ Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. 
In the meantime I went to work for the city of Indianapolis 
and thought that I would make a few extra pennies until the 
time came. The time did not come however, and by July 20th 
I was ready to do something. I had not given the proposition 
serious thought even at this time, but on Wednesday noon of 
July 24th, I decided that since many of my friends were going 
out to Fort Benjamin Harrison, I would go also. I had Bat¬ 
tery A in mind and when I found it I immediately looked 
up Lieut. Vernon Gasper and he trotted me over to the Bat¬ 
tery orderly room. I signed my name, and all was done. 
“Report to the Battery not later than Saturday and be ready 
to stay awhile”, was the answer I got to several inquiries that 
I made. I then came home and told the folks about it. Satur¬ 
day noon found me in soldier clothes as a private in Battery 

A. I had no cot to sleep on, so Saturday evening I got a pass 
to town and bought an army cot which I took out to the Fort 
that evening when I returned. 

The next few weeks found me washing three inch pieces and 
doing regular ‘flunky’ work. Finally a little Sergeant by the 
name of Richard M. Bosson thought I would do for the Bat¬ 
tery Commander’s detail, and I started to learn semaphore. 
A few days at this and I had enough, but I did not like it, 
although some of the boys told me that it was a good detail. 
I didn’t even know what the detail was for, so back I went 
to a gun section. 

Finally the whole regiment moved from what was known 
as the Ohio Camp to the Indiana Camp and from that time 
on I began to realize that I was really in the army. I stood 
a few guards, served on K. P. (kitchen police) washing pots 
and pans, went on a hundred other different battery and regi¬ 
mental details, and then I was taken in hand by Sgt. Wilbur 

B. Morgan of the Instrument Detail. During that time I had 
several passes to the city, some for over Saturday night and 


(in 


12 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


some for Sunday only. I had also been made a private, First 
Class. Instrument detail work was real work and I enjoyed 
it very much. The regular army routine kept me very busy 
though and I did not get to know many of the fellows very 
well. One month passed, and September found us all ready 
and looking any minute to leave for Camp Mills at Mineola, 
Long Island. I had been home a dozen times to say good-bye 
and it finally became somewhat of a joke. The time was near 
however, and we visited our homes for the last time. 

On September 7th [1917] about 10:00 a.m. I called up the 
folks and they came out to the Fort. At 1:00 p.m. we all 
boarded a train and bed time that evening found us rolling 
along toward Long Island. We arrived at Camp Mills, Long 
Island, about 6:00 P.M. September 11th, and we immediately 
started to put up our tents and make a regular camp, after- 
awards called by the boys The Model Camp’. Inspections came 
daily and the boys certainly learned to hate them. Every 
day would find the battery, except the detail, doing ‘doughboy’ 
drill and walking regimental reviews over the rough fields of 
the camp. At this time I found out that the detail was the 
place, for we always went out for semaphore, wigwag and 
telephone practice and did not have to ‘doughboy’. We did 
however, get many passes; Hempstead, L. I. and New York 
City got the bulk of all the soldiers from the camp. New 
clothes were issued, new shoes, new equipment of all kinds, 
not excepting a new order on the average of every hour. 

The time finally came though when we were to go to France. 
Not a fellow made a cry, they were all anxious to go as they 
were tired of the camp life, inspections, drills, conflicting or¬ 
ders, etc. By that time I knew quite a few more fellows in 
the battery and felt as though all of them were my friends. 
I was promoted to a corporal on September 26th and felt as 
big as any General with my two new stripes. Our detail 
was proficient in the art of signaling under the tutoring of 
Lieut. Victor M. Hasselman. The rest of the battery had 
‘doughboyed’ themselves about ten pounds lighter to the man 
under the orders of Lieut. Aloys Knaff. Lieut. Clarence E. 
Trotter had just come to the battery from either Supply or 
Headquarters company before we left and Capt. Sidney S. 
Miller was in command of the battery. On October 18, 
1917 we left Camp Mills and boarded the U.S.S. transport 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


13 


President Lincoln. We were shown to our compartments, fed 
and told to stay down below and make no noise, but as luck 
would have it Perry W. Lesh, [Clarence E.] Pete Clift, [Rich¬ 
ard M.] Dick Bosson and a few others, including myself, got 
to the very top deck where we stayed until we had pulled all 
the way out of the harbor. About 9:00 p.m. we pulled away 
from the pier at Hoboken and it seemed like we slid down the 
Hudson, with no lights, no noise or no adieu, past the Statue 
of Liberty, out into the open sea. 

The trip across was most miserable. Sanitary conditions 
were very, very bad and the boat was crowded so that one 
could hardly turn around. All this in addition to all of the 
conflicting orders we were required to carry out took all the 
spirit out of the men. They were always keeping us in the 
hold of the boat and as a result, in the want of something to do 
I started the following diary. 


CHAPTER II 
France 

Beginning October 27, 1917, while three days off the French 
coast I decided to start a diary. We arrived at Saint Nazaire 
October 31, 1917, at 4:50 p.m. We were on board the U.S.S. 
transport President Lincoln, at that time the largest freight 
boat in the world. We were kept on board waiting for dock¬ 
ing space until November 5th, at about 10:30 a.m. Sgt. John 
M. Skidmore 1 and myself were the first noncommissioned men 
to step off the boat. 

I was on dock with an unloading detail the nights of No¬ 
vember 4th and 5th, taking charge of Battery A property. 
From the boat we marched to Camp No. 1, Saint Nazaire. 
On the way to the camp we marched along the beautiful Saint 
Nazaire water front. We were put in quarters in wooden 
cantonments, dirt floors and it was very uncomfortable. Dur¬ 
ing the last week we took several hikes through the country. 
Oxen, thatched roofs, and wooden shoes were common sights. 
We have had very much rainy weather during this past week. 
The Camp overlooked Saint Nazaire harbor. The country is 
very rolling and the grass seems to stay green the year around. 
The houses are very quaint and are built close to the streets. 
Many French soldiers were home from the front and many 
German prisoners were at work in the fields about Saint 
Nazaire. The trees are nearly all evergreen trees. The main 
roads are very good but the connecting roads are poor. The 
streets of Saint Nazaire are very narrow. Wines and drinks 
are cheap but real meals are rather costly. The Y. M. C. A. 
is the most comfortable place around the Camp. 

November 11, 1917:—No mail has reached us from the U.S. 
While on one of our recent hikes we had a glimpse of some 
French coast defense guns and they sure are big ones. Our 
meals at the camp are only fair considering what we have 
been having and the fellows are certainly on the war path 
about it. ‘Corned Willie’ was the chief factor in our meals. 

1. John M. Skidmore gave his life for his country, August 31, 1918. He died from 
wounds received in action in battle of Chateau Thierry. See Indiana Gold Star Honor 
Boll, p. 421. 


( 14 ) 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


15 


We had no cots, only the hard ground to sleep on. Writing 
was rather a hard problem because it was rather cold. We 
heard practically no English language used by the French 
people. Part of the Battery A property was left on dock 
waiting for our permanent camp. This necessitated a dock 
guard. The battery took a hike this morning. 

November 13, 1917:—The battery took a hike this morning 
along the Saint Nazaire harbor. We saw much beautiful 
scenery. We hiked from 9:15 to 11:45 under arms. We have 
reveille at 5:30 a.m. at which time it is still dark. During 
the forepart of the afternoon we were at the Y. M. C. A. Two 
American women are in charge of this Y. M. C. A. Later in 
the afternoon we had some detail signal work in the canton¬ 
ment. I spent the evening writing at the Y. M. C. A. 

November 14, 1917:—Today the battery supplied the engi¬ 
neering detail. I went to Saint Nazaire with Lieut. [Victor 
M.] Hasselman to buy some supplies. German prisoners had 
been put to work in the large army warehouses. The battery 
boys played the officers a game of baseball in the afternoon. 
We have the ‘snow’ that we are to leave tomorrow. We do 
not know where. I spent the evening at the Y.M.C.A. 

November 15, 1917:—The battery was again out on an engi¬ 
neering detail. The battery detail went out along the clifTs 
to have some signal work in the afternoon. I went to Base 
Hospital No. 101, and had a slight operation performed on 
my right nostril. I was N.C.O. [non-commissioned officer] in 
charge of camp during the rest of the day. Nothing out of 
the usual happened. I spent the evening at the Y.M.C.A. writ¬ 
ing letters and smoking. 

November 16, 1917:—At nine o'clock I reported to Base 
Hospital No. 101 and was put to bed with much pain from 
the operation of yesterday. 

[The days from November 17th to November 
19th, inclusive, were spent in the hospital. 

The diary for these days contained informa¬ 
tion of only routine nature; of little historical 
value.] 

November 20, 1917:—Pain was still lighter today but it 
seems to hang on longer. The doctor gave me permission 


16 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


to get up today. I have been on full diet continually. I was 
out of bed about an hour today. I had a long talk with the 
medical officer this afternoon, and he complimented Battery 
A 150th F.A. 

November 21, 1917:—I got up very early this morning 
and was up all day. I have come in contact with some very 
fine fellows since being in the hospital. Capt. [Sidney S.] 
Miller told me the day that he stopped in that the battery 
was leaving November 19th. I don’t know where. I was up 
all day smoking, reading and washing dishes. 

November 22, 1917:—The pain is very much less today. 
I was admitted to the general mess hall today. I spent most 
of the time smoking and getting up ‘pep’. 

November 23, 1917:—I was up all day. I took a long walk 
out of doors this afternoon. I had a slight headache all day. 
French Infantry marched by this afternoon singing; going 
to the front. I spent my time as usual adding a little soli¬ 
taire to my pastime. It is very amusing to watch the negroes 
who are preparing to go to the operating room. 

November 24, 1917:—I took another long walk out of doors 
this afternoon. I had my nose worked on this evening and 
they told me that if it was no better by Monday they would 
have to operate on it. They are still irrigating it every day. 
We get the New York Herald every evening. It is printed in 
Paris. 

November 25, 1917:—Today being Sunday I had nothing 
to do. There is no severe pain in my head or eye today, but 
I have a general headache. 

November 26, 1917:—I had a dull headache all day long. 
I had a long talk with the doctor this evening and he decided 
that I would have my nose operated on tomorrow. Nothing 
out of the usual happened during the rest of the day. 

November 27, 1917:—I was up all during the morning but 
directly after my noon meal I was compelled to go to bed. At 
two o’clock I walked over to the operating room and the cut¬ 
ting began. I was in the operating room until 5:40 and was 
brought back to my bed in an arm chair. The rest of the day 
was a blur to me. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


17 


[The days from November 28th to December 
1st inclusive, were spent in the hospital fol¬ 
lowing an operation on my nose. Although a 
daily diary was kept there was little of his¬ 
torical value.] 

December 2, 1917:—American Red Cross nurses are sta¬ 
tioned in this hospital. I have received no mail from the U.S. 
since I arrived. I suppose there is some at the camp. The 
battery is some place near the Swiss Border, at least that is 
the supposition. The building in which the Base Hospital is 
situated was once an old French College. It is entirely mili¬ 
tary, very large and lies at the edge of the city of Saint 
Nazaire. The death rate among soldiers since I have been 
here is about ten a week. I am in a ward containing twenty- 
nine beds. It seems to be very clean and a very efficient 
place. Many cases of measles have broken out in our ward 
and many operations are performed here. I have been up all 
day, the pain is gradually leaving my nose and head, conse¬ 
quently am feeling much better. On every Sunday we have 
church services here. 

[From December 3rd to December 12th inclu¬ 
sive I was confined to the hospital where I re¬ 
ceived treatment for the operation on my 
nose.] 

December 13, 1917:—I spent most of my time in the canteen 
today. Many of the patients were sent to another hospital 
at Savenay today. This morning I was ‘bawled out’ by one 
of the nurses because I did not have my bed made properly. 
I can notice that the weather is getting colder. I imagine that 
the patients will not be very comfortable traveling to Savenay 
which is about eighteen miles from here. 

December 14, 1917:—I was discharged from the hospital 
and pronounced ‘cured’ as they call it here, at about 10:00 
this morning. We are supposed to be in bed by nine o’clock 
but having nothing to do it is generally about seven. 

December 15, 1917:—I had a wonderful warm shower bath 
today. They also gave me all my clothes which they had 
taken away from me when I first came. They are moving 
all of the patients out of the hospital. I am supposed to go 
either to my organization or to another Base Hospital. 


2—22902 


18 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


December 16, 1917:—It may be well to note that Base Hos¬ 
pital No. 101 is not an organized unit. We got up at the usual 
time this morning ready to leave. At 7:00 we were loaded 
into motor trucks and taken to the railroad station. There 
we were put into a hospital train which pulled out of the sta¬ 
tion about 8:00. We passed through Savenay about 11:40 
and Chantenay about 12:00. The country is very rolling and 
very beautiful. It has been raining all day. We came into 
Nantes at 1:05 where we made a fifteen minute stop. We 
passed through Ouden at 3:00, and at 4:40 we pulled into the 
depot at Angers. There we waited for an ambulance to take 
us to the hospital. The train we came up here in was a com¬ 
plete hospital train making its first trip. We passed through 
some very rocky country and I must say that the scenery can 
not be beaten. We arrived at the U.S. hospital at about 8:00 
P.M. They took all of my clothes away again and put me to 
bed. CAN YOU beat that? I am now in a ward con¬ 
taining sixty-four beds. The nurses and doctors here are 
very much pleasanter than those I came in contact with at 
St. Nazaire. Conditions are much better, the food is excellent 
and the hospital is very much larger than the one at St. 
Nazaire. It is Base Hospital No. 27, an organized unit from 
Philadelphia. 

December 17, 1917:—At 10:30 this morning the doctor 
came through and gave orders that I could have my clothes 
and be assigned to duty. There is a victrola in this ward and 
it certainly can make one feel blue, especially when records 
from home are played. When we woke up this morning the 
ground was covered with snow, the air was full of snow but 
by noon the sun was shining again. I had a very good noon 
meal and about two o’clock I received my clothes. I went 
down to the mess hall for my evening meal. This hospital 
was formerly an old French monastery, later it was used as 
a German prison hospital. I went to bed about 8:30. 

December 18, 1917:—I got up very early this morning and 
took all of my meals in the general mess hall. Time passes 
very slowly. I am feeling very fine now and am waiting pa¬ 
tiently to be sent back to my battery. During the day I did 
a little reading and helped the ward master a little while just 
to pass the time. I was in bed by nine o’clock. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


19 


December 19, 1917:—When I got up this morning the sun 
was shining very bright. The whole day passed very slowly 
as I had nothing to do. I didn’t even need a shave but I took 
one just to make the time pass. My chart went down to the 
office today and the doctor said that I would probably leave 
for my outfit tomorrow. I was in bed by 7:00 P.M. 

December 20, 1917:—I got up very early this morning hop¬ 
ing and expecting to leave today. Have a slight headache. 
From what I can find out the battery is in camp at Guer about 
one hundred and twenty-five miles from here. In this hospi¬ 
tal there are a great many cases of ear trouble; many men 
come in hurt in accidents and there are a great many minor 
operations performed. We left the hospital at 12:45, the sun 
was shining bright. We received our transportation at the 
Angers depot and boarded the train at 1:30. I had charge of 
the seven men going to our camp; all of them belonged to our 
regiment. We arrived at LeMans at 3:19 where a French 
army officer met us and asked us all of the military informa¬ 
tion concerning ourselves. He then put us on the train for 
Rennes which left at 4:19. We arrived in Rennes at 9:10, put 
our baggage down on the platform and went out to get some 
information as to how we could reach camp. After we had 
gotten our information, having gone out of the station we 
tried to get back in to our baggage but the French station 
master would not let us through the gates without a ticket. 
Finally after much trouble, not being able to make the old boy 
understand us, we ran past the ticket man to our baggage. 
Naturally he followed us but we did not care, we simply took 
our baggage and carried it out of the station. We could not 
find the U.S. motor trucks that were supposed to take us to 
camp so we asked a cab driver where the Hotel Moderne was. 
I had been told of this hotel by one of my friends while in the 
hospital. While trying to find the hotel we ran into some 
M.P.’s who took us to some old French barracks where we 
stayed all night; sleeping on beds of straw but they felt very 
good because we were very tired. We went to the small tram¬ 
way depot in the morning at 7:00 to get the train for Camp 
Coctquidan. 

December 21, 1917:—We were on the small tramway car 
and the conductor came along to look at our tickets. They 


20 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


were really tickets for the government trains so he did not 
hesitate to tell us that our tickets were no good. Not one of 
us had any money so we got off the train and went back to 
the barracks and the M.P’s. There was a U.S. motor truck 
leaving for camp but it was loaded with iron; camp is thirty- 
eight miles from here and it is pretty cold so we are going 
to wait for the 4 o’clock tram. We waited at the hotel 
Moderne until time to catch the 4 o’clock tram. A French 
woman from the Hotel Moderne went along on the train with 
us. She could speak fair English and she showed us where 
to get off the train and told us which way to go. We arrived 
at the camp about 8 :00 P.M. and of course I went out to see 
all of the fellows. I found that most of my mail had been 
forwarded to the hospital and I do not know when I will get 
it. I went to bed very happy. 

December 22, 1917:—This morning I went out to help estab¬ 
lish our gun positions. This afternoon I heard our new six 
and three inch guns for the first time. I also went to the 
observation post and watched the officers direct the fire of 
several problems. Our camp is up on a hill and we fire across 
a valley on to the next ridge. The first time I watched the 
actual projectile travel through the air I was very surprised 
but one can really see this shell go. I also saw several holes 
that the three and six inch shells had made in the ground. 
The burst of a six inch shell surely kicks up the dirt when it 
explodes. I am feeling very well. I read my letters over 
and went to bed very tired and surprised at my new idea 
of war but happy that I was back with my organization once 
again. 

December 23, 1917:—We get up at 5 o’clock in the morn¬ 
ing. There is nothing to do on Sunday. The mess shack is 
all decorated with pine, fir, holly, and mistletoe for Christ¬ 
mas. I stayed around camp all day because there is a great 
deal of mail coming in (Christmas mail) but there seems to 
be none for me. We are in wooden cantonments, dirt floors, 
about fifty beds and three small stoves. During the evening 
the boys sit around the stoves smoking and talking. There 
are about 1,000 German prisoners at work in this camp. The 
ranges and observation posts are rather far out. The camp 
is a very large one and there are about 14,000 Americans 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


21 


and 500 French here. We have iron cots to sleep on, plenty 
of blankets and are comparatively comfortable. It is a very 
good place for one to get a sore throat or some kind of sick¬ 
ness because it is so very damp. 

December 24, 1917:—This morning I went out with Sgt. 
[Wilbur B.] Morgan and recorded deflections as the battery 
fired. It was pretty cold but the work was very interesting. 
We fired about 150 rounds. We did nothing this afternoon. 
This evening we had quite an entertainment in the mess hall 
given by the boys from the battery. It lasted until 9 o’clock 
after which the Christmas boxes that had come by mail were 
passed out. I received two boxes. We then came to our can¬ 
tonment, ate some of the food we had received from home and 
had a general good time. Every fellow opened his boxes and 
we were all happy. 

December 25, 1917:—Christmas Day! I got up about eight 
o’clock, we had only an ordinary breakfast. During the morn¬ 
ing we went out into a fir forest and cut fir boughs from which 
we made a bench around our stove, in our end of the canton¬ 
ment. We then went to our Christmas dinner. We had 
turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, biscuits, butter, 
jam, sugar, coffee, cream, pie, dates, cake, fruit salad, nuts 
and cigars, just about all we could eat. During the afternoon 
we were all in misery and we did nothing but lie around. 
In the evening we serenaded the officers and the other camps 
and then came back to the cantonment and ate some more. 
We then sat around the stove until late and went to bed about 
2 o’clock. Happy! 

December 26, 1917:—We are now having reveille at 6:00 
and retreat at 4:00. This morning I went to a wireless school, 
and this afternoon we sat around the fire in the cantonment. 
There was not much to do so we wrote some letters, smoked 
and went to bed early. 

December 27, 1917:—It is quite cold. We worked in the 
cantonment during the forenoon. In the afternoon Sgt. 
[Wilbur B.] Morgan, Cpl. [William H.] Bruning and I went 
out with the aiming circle. During the evening we sat 
around the stove smoking. 

December 28, 1917:—We fired this morning. (Practice.) 


22 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


I kept record of the deflections. It was very cold. The after¬ 
noon was spent studying in the cantonment. At three o’clock 
the Captain Sidney S. Miller took us to his quarters and gave 
us a lecture on firing data. We are getting very good food. 
The evening was spent around the stove. 

December 29, 1917:—We had an inspection under arms in 
the cantonment this morning. The rest of the day we sat 
around the stove, trying to keep warm. I went to bed about 
5:30 because I was not feeling well. 

December 30, 1917:—We stood a regimental inspection 
this morning. The rest of the day we sat around, wrote let¬ 
ters and smoked. Went to bed early. 

December 31, 1917:—We were mustered for pay this morn¬ 
ing. We had nothing much to do the rest of the day. We 
did stay up very late, Bryant Gillespie, Edwin H. Bassett, 
Bill Bruning, [Wilbur] Bud Morgan, [Rogers H.] ‘Pug’ 
George and I put all the food that we had together, had a little 
lunch and at one o’clock we went out and marched with the 
band. 

January 1, 1918:—We had no reveille this morning, we 
slept very late. We stayed around the fire all day long and 
had no retreat. Am feeling very well, went to bed early and 
had a good sleep. 

January 2, 1918:—This morning the battery was paid. I 
received no pay because I had signed only the October pay 
roll. The rest of the morning we sat around the fire. We 
had noon mess early and then went out to the gun positions 
where the battery fired during the afternoon. I went out 
mounted. I kept deflections until about three o’clock when 
they suspended fire on account of haze. We then came in and 
sat around the fire until about eight and went to bed. 

January 3, 1918:—I was inside all day long working on 
firing data. Today is Battery A day for the bath house. The 
bath house is an old kitchen and one bathes in great large 
sinks. During the evening we had school with Capt. [Sidney 
S.] Miller on firing data. (Non-commissioned school.) 

January 4, 1918:—Today I memorized the two numeral 
code. I went down to the end of the road for a meal tonight 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


23 


with [William H.] Bruning. We then came back and went to 
firing data school. 

January 5, 1918:—This morning we stayed in the canton¬ 
ment. This afternoon we fired and I recorded firing data. 
We went out to the range mounted and now I am quite stiff. 
Today I had a pain over my left eye and it worried me very 
much because it was a pain similar to the one I had while 
I was in the hospital. Bruning went down to the end of 
the road this evening, bought me some sandwiches and we 
went to bed early. 

January 6, 1918:—We had an inspection of quarters this 
morning and this afternoon I did some washing. We were 
also forbidden to speak or give anything to any of the German 
prisoners here. These prisoners even take things out of the 
garbage cans around here. We went to one of the small 
French towns for our evening meal. The meal was ‘bum’. 
After we got back we sat around the fire for awhile and then 
went to bed. 

January 7, 1918:—We got up very early this morning and 
prepared to go out and fire but it was raining so hard that we 
could not fire. My left eye is hurting again this morning. I 
also have a pretty bad cold. We stayed inside all day but in 
the evening we went to a firing data school. Late in the 
evening it started to snow very hard. 

January 8, 1918:—This morning we all went to stables. 
We were there all morning and had a class on the care of 
horses. It has been snowing continually since last night. This 
afternoon we stayed inside and worked on the buzzer and the 
code. It is very miserable out doors. During the evening 
we had a school with Capt. Miller. 

January 9, 1918:—We got up early this morning and went 
out to fire. We were out until about 11:45. This afternoon 
we went out with the Captain and had some work on plotting. 
Also some work on locating positions. We then worked a 
little on the instrument. During the evening we had another 
class on firing data. The weather is very cold. 

January 10, 1918:—This morning we went to stables where 
we stayed until about 10:00. We then went to the gun park 


24 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


where we had gun drill learning all of the different parts of 
the guns. This afternoon we stayed inside and had a class 
in firing data. The problems were on direct firing. During 
the evening we again had school with Capt. [Sidney S.] 
Miller. 

January 11, 1918:—This morning we fired, using as a prob¬ 
lem the data we had figured out during the firing on last 
Wednesday. We came in about 11:00 and during the after¬ 
noon had problems in firing data. During the evening we 
again had a class with the Captain. We get all the bread 
we can eat at our meals and what we have left over we take 
to the cantonment and toast. We always go down to the end 
of the road to buy jam of which there is plenty, and then 
before we go to bed we always have something to eat. The 
weather is very warm now, wet and muddy, but it has been 
very cold. I have had wet feet for three days now, but when 
we come in late in the evening we always change to dry 
clothes. I have a very bad cold in my chest and it is very 
annoying, I certainly hope it will be gone soon. Bud [Wilbur 
B.] Morgan and I have agreed to stop smoking for one week. 
Classes in firing data are taking all of our time. Our horses 
have been here for about three days. 

January 12, 1918:—We went to stables this morning. I 
groomed horses, carried hay and worked around the stables 
until noon. We came in for mess and went out to stables 
again at 1:30. We had equitation until about 3:00, then 
watered the horses and fed them. It has been raining all day 
and I was wet through. It is very wet and muddy. When 
I came in [Vernon] Kniptash, [Wilbur B.] Morgan, [Harold 
K.] Roberts and [William H.] Bruning were ready to do down 
to the end of the road so I went along. We had a pretty fair 
meal at a small cafe and then Roberts, Kniptash, and I, came 
back to camp. Bud Morgan and Bill Bruning came in about 
12:00 ???. 

January 13, 1918:—This morning [William H.] Bruning, 
[Wilbur B.] Morgan and I went down to stables to get single 
mounts as we were going with the Captain to plot some gun 
positions, but I did not go as all of the single mounts had 
been taken. We had an inspection this morning and we also 
received Red Cross bags. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


25 


January 14, 1918:—During the morning we stayed in the 
cantonment and studied firing data. We ate mess at 10:30 
and then went to the stables, got single mounts and went out 
to the gun position. We fired until 4:45 and then came in 
and put our horses away. I then ate mess, went to the can¬ 
tonment where I sat around until about 8:00 and then went 
to bed. 

January 15, 1918:—We prepared for an inspection this 
morning, to be made by officers from General Pershing’s staff. 
We hung around the cantonment all day long and they did not 
come, you can imagine our thoughts. During the afternoon 
I slipped out and stole some coal so that we could start a fire 
in our stove. During the latter part of the afternoon we went 
to a firing data school with the Captain. I did not go to mess 
because the weather was so miserable. It is very cold, rainy 
and muddy. Yesterday was one of the prettiest days I have 
seen since I have been over here. 

January 16, 1918:—This morning we stayed inside. It was 
very rainy and we thought that we were not going to get to 
fire. At noon it cleared up and we went out to the range 

■V 

mounted. We fired until 4:45 and then came in. During the 
evening we worked on some firing data the Captain had given 
us. We also received some mail this morning. I received 
my second letter from home today. I toasted some bread 
about 8:00, ate it, and went to bed about 9:00. 

January 17, 1918:—I stayed in this morning and worked 
on firing data problems. This afternoon we went out to our 
new gun positions which are about five miles to the southwest 
of camp. We went out mounted. Bud Morgan and I shot 
in a traverse from an old mill and established our position. 
We got in about 5 P.M., ate mess and then went to a firing 
school. After school we plotted our gun position on a plotting 
board. I then came back to the cantonment and wrote let¬ 
ters until 12 :00. 

January 18, 1918:—I stayed in the cantonment all day long. 
During the afternoon Bill Bruning and I worked on some 
problems (transporting fire). Today we drew from the 
Quartermaster saddle bags, bridle, spurs and feed bags. I 
went down to the stable after some flash lights I had left down 


26 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


there. Wrote letters during the latter part of the afternoon, 
and went to bed rather early because we have to get up at 4 
p.M. to go out to fire. 

January 19, 1918:—We got up at 3 A.M. instead of 4 A.M., 
ate mess, got the aiming circle stakes and our packs and were 
ready to leave for the gun positions at 5:00. [Harold K.] 
Roberts, [Wilbur B.] Morgan and I took a sack of bread and 
jam along for our noon meal. At 5:00 the telephone detail, 
Sgt. [Wilbur R.] Morgan, Sgt. [Richard M.] Bosson, [Harold 
K.] Roberts and I started for the range in the fourgon (our 
wagon for material). About ten fellows rode with us. We 
proceeded through Guer to the gun position which is about 
six miles by this road. Our fourgon was drawn by four 
mules. [Edwin H.] Bassett rode the near lead mule and I 
rode the off mule. It was very dark and we were not allowed 
to have a light. It was sure a wild ride. We did all of the 
work we could do before the battery came, and then the tele¬ 
phone detail established communication to the observation 
post. Communication was very good. We observed from 
observation C which was hidden in the weeds. We fired at 
a range of 8,500 or 9,000 meters. As the battery came up 
we identified the positions for the different guns. [Bryant 
W.] Gillespie seemed to have a great many spectators and he 
got excited and rode his single mount into a briar bush. I can 
only remember seeing him fly into the air and light head 
first in the weeds. His horse was running, balking, kicking 
and snorting. We finally started firing and got the guns ad¬ 
justed after which we kept up a barrage fire. We fired until 
about 2:00 and then reeled in all of our wire and put all of 
our material on the fourgon. Noon food was brought out 
to the men by our cook wagon. We started back to camp 
about 4:00 and got back to camp about 5:30. I rode an off 
mule all the way back. I am certainly stiff now. We put 
our material away and went to bed at 7 P.M. very tired. 

January 20, 1918:—I stayed inside all morning. We had 
an inspection after which I wrote some letters. I also re¬ 
ceived a little back mail today. After noon mess I straight¬ 
ened up my belongings as best I could. In the afternoon we 
went to stables. Several of us went to the end of the road 
and had a pretty fair meal at the cafe Belle Vue. The weather 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


27 


has been warm and very pleasant all day. I went to bed 
about 8:20. 

January 21, 1918:—I got up early this morning, built a fire 
and then went down to stables, as we always feed the horses 
before we have our breakfast. Directly after breakfast we 
again went down to stables and did not come back in until 
nearly 11:30. We have no tables, but there are great wide 
shelves built along the wall upon which we can place our 
plates, or rather mess pans. At 12:00 the whole regiment 
started on a hike. The detail men started out riding in the 
fourgon but later we had to walk. We started toward Guer 
but turned off and went through Plelan. At Plelan they 
turned and started back. When we got back we had to go 
to stables, and finally we got in to the kitchen and got our 
mess. The battery then went to the bath house as it was our 
bath day. The hike was a very interesting one, the country 
is very quaint yet very beautiful. Nearly every tree that one 
sees has been cut off, the branches being used for fire wood 
and brooms. Fences are all grown of hedge or holly, the 
houses are very dilapidated. It is certainly disgusting to see 
these French people living in the same house or barn, one can 
hardly tell which it is, with their cattle, chickens, etc. Small 
crosses and shrines can be seen along the roads. We also 
passed a French school house and all the small French chil¬ 
dren came out to see us pass, they gave us apples and all kinds 
of fruit. 

January 22, 1918:—We ate mess very early this morning 
and then Sgt. [Wilbur B.] Morgan, Cpl. [William H.] Brun- 

ing, Lieut.-Vallandingham and I went out mounted 

to locate a gun position. The battery came out about 9:30 
and went into position. They fired until 11:45 and then 
ceased until 1:00. They then put up a barrage and I am still 
recording deflections. The horses were taken in to the camp 
for water and on the way in my horse became lame, conse¬ 
quently I rode back to camp on the fourgon. We got back in 
time for retreat at 4:30 and then Cpl. Bruning and I went 
down to the end of the road for a meal. Down there we met 
Sgt. [Richard M.] Bosson, Cpl. [John U.] Bosson, Cpl. [Leslie 
H.] Coleman, and we all had a good meal together. We all 
came back to the barracks at about 8:00 and went to bed 
pretty tired. 



28 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


January 23, 1918:— I got up at 6 A.M. this morning and 
went to stables where I stayed until 9:00. I then came back 
to the cantonment and got ready to go on a hike. We started 
on our hike at 9:30 and went to the gun position that we occu¬ 
pied on Jan. 19th, there our work was inspected by Major 
[Solon J.] Carter. We then pulled out of our position and 
started back. We arrived at camp at 12:45, ate mess and 
then Cpl. Bruning, Lieut. Vallandingham and I went out to re¬ 
locate the gun position that we occupied on Jan. 22nd. We 
worked until it was so late and dark that we could no longer 
see to use the instrument and then we came back to camp. 
This morning on the hike we walked, but this afternoon we 
were mounted. We had a wild ride coming into camp this 
evening because it was so dark no one could see us and we 
put on some speed. After we got in we ate our mess. We 
had beans, bread, butter, sugar and coffee. After I had 
eaten I came back to the cantonment where I made our bed, 
Bruning and I sleep together. Bruning went to the gun park 
where he was going to have some night work with the aiming 
circle. Extended manoeuveres are very frequent. I went to 
bed about 7:00. 

January 24, 1918:—A single mount was assigned me this 
morning. At 9:00 I went out and located a new gun position. 
I escorted the fourgon in from the position and got in about 
5:00. I then ate my mess, and received some mail. I got 
some real American matches from the Y.M.C.A. today. French 
matches are absolutely no good at all. I wrote letters the rest 
of the evening. 

January 25, 1918:—I was at stables all morning. This 
afternoon I went out with Lieut. Dunn and located a gun posi¬ 
tion for tomorrow. I wrote letters all evening. It is very 
dark, damp and dreary here in the cantonment tonight. 

January 26, 1918:—I spent practically all day at stables. 
We did take a short hike this morning with all of our mate¬ 
rial. I tried to ride a mule this morning but the old boy 
didn’t seem to want me to, so naturally I didn’t. Sorry to 
say that [William H.] Bruning went to the hospital this even¬ 
ing with a fever of 104. I think though that he will be out 
soon. Sgt. [Wilbur B.] Morgan and Sgt. [Bryant W.] 
Gillespie went to Rennes today. Many of the fellows went 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


29 


down to the end of the road this evening but I stayed in and 
wrote some letters. We always have to write our letters by 
candle light and it is very hard on one’s eyes. 

January 27, 1918:—I went to stables this morning and 
came in about 10:00 feeling very bad. I went to bed and 
stayed there until noon. During the afternoon I cleaned up 
my shoes and at retreat everyone was cautioned to keep clean. 
They also told us that Bruning had diphtheria, consequently 
our cantonment is under quarantine. That means that we go 
to the infirmary twice a day and have our throats painted. 
We have to keep out of the other cantonments but we do our 
work as usual. Ed Bassett and I went down to the aeroplane 
hangers today and looked at one of the small French scout 
planes. We then went to a small French tavern where, after 
waiting about two hours after our order had been placed, we 
left in disgust. On the way back to camp I bought some new 
cord for my cigarette lighter. A little closer to camp I bought 
some jam and then Ed [Bassett] and I stopped at the Hotel 
Universe and had an omelet and some coffee. We then went 
to another little store where I bought some butter, figs, and 
a loaf of bread. After we got back we had to have our throats 
painted; we then went to bed. 

January 28, 1918:—The battery took a long hike this morn¬ 
ing. The detail was mounted on mules and acted as route 
markers. When we came in the men from our cantonment 
had to eat their mess on the outside because they would not 
permit the men from near Corporal Bruning’s bunk to eat 
with the rest. We all had our throats painted again this 
morning. This afternoon Captain [Miller] gave the detail 
equitation after which we groomed, watered and fed. We 
then came in and had a talk on equipment by Lieut. [Charles 
D.] Clift. All the men in our cantonment were then inocu¬ 
lated for diphtheria. I then came back and took a shave, 
toasted some bread, and then got ready for a reconnoitering 
trip tomorrow. 

January 29, 1918:—After eating mess this morning the 
detail went to stables, watered and fed the horses. We then 
got saddle and grain bags and harnessed our horses. We all 
took one sandwich along for our lunch. We started from the 
gun park at 8:15, all battery details in the regiment were 


30 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


mounted. We passed through Guer about 9:00 and then con¬ 
tinued on until noon when we arrived at the top of a very 
large hill. This hill can be seen from camp. There hap¬ 
pened to be a small village near where we stopped and there 
we bought cider and apples to eat with our sandwiches. We 
also watered and fed our horses and rested until 12:45 and 
then continued on. At 2 P.M. we arrived at our destination. 
Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift sure took us on a wild ride going 
to our gun position. It certainly was a thrill. We laid out a 
gun position and at 3:00 we started back. On the way back 
I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. 
At one time I could see three small villages and was looking 
at them from a height of nearly six hundred feet. The en¬ 
tire country seems to be covered with fir trees. Coming back 
we passed through Poncare and Montenque. All the way our 
horses were made to trot for ten minutes and then walk for 
fifteen. It seems very strange to see these French people 
use every little growth for fuel. Many oxen are used for 
plowing the fields, etc. I also noticed that many dogs were 
used, they are chained to a small cart and made to pull; and 
pull they surely do. At 4 P.M. we found ourselves directly 
behind observation posts K and F, very near to one of our old 
gun positions. From here we went across country to camp, 
jumping ditches and dodging branches as we went along. 
After we got in we groomed our horses a little, watered and 
fed them and came in to mess. After mess our fellows went 
over to the infirmary and had their throats looked at. I then 
came back to the cantonment, wrote a letter and went to bed 
at about 8:00. 

January 30, 1918:—At seven thirty this morning we left 
the gun park on another hike. All of the details were 
mounted. None of the batteries went out with us. We took 
grain for our horses and food for ourselves and went about 
nine miles out of camp. We went to the northeast of camp, 
and through St. Milo. After we got to our position we lo¬ 
cated it on the map and then plotted it on the plotting board. 
We stayed there until about 3:00 and then started back, ar¬ 
riving in camp about 4:50. The horses were then groomed, 
watered and fed. We then came in for mess. During the 
evening I wrote some letters and went to bed about 8:00. 

January 31, 1918:—We went out on another manoeuver 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


31 


mounted, today. We went about ten miles through St. Milo 
[Malo] again. After reaching our destination we established 
our gun position which took us until noon. The horses were 
watered and fed, we ate our lunch and then went out on some 
sector sketching work. We were out until 4:00. On our way 
back to camp we got lost and did not get in until 5:10. We 
groomed and watered our horses; the stable men fed them, 
and then we came in for mess. After mess we mustered for 
pay. We received a little mail and after I had read mine I 
sat down and wrote some letters. I went to bed at 8:00. 

February 1, 1918:—We went to stables the first thing this 
morning and then to the gun park. The battery went out and 
fired until 11:00. After I had eaten my mess, [Wilbur B.] 
Morgan and I went out toward observation post B where we 
located a new gun position by the ‘three point method’ with 
the plotting board. We came in about 4:00 and I then built 
a bench around our little corner table and wrote some letters. 

February 2, 1918:—Got up pretty early this morning and 
went out to the range on the fourgon which followed the bat¬ 
tery. We fired until 11:30 and then came in and ate mess. 
I sat around a little while and then went down to stables. 
There I cleaned my saddle and bridle and oiled them. At four 
o’clock we came in to mess. We are having reveille at 5:00 
and retreat at 5:30 now. So we eat our mess first and then 
stand retreat. After I had heated some water and cleaned 
up a bit I sat down to write some letters. Bryant Gillespie 
came over to use our desk to write his girl, Florida, a letter. 
I had a little to eat and then went to bed. 

February 3, 1918:—Went to stables this morning and 
stayed there until 9:30. I then came in and cleaned a pair 
of shoes for an inspection at 2:00 this afternoon. Directly 
after mess Cpl. Leslie H. Coleman and I finished the bench 
around our little corner desk. Inspection did not come and 
I sat around and smoked nearly all afternoon. We were told 
that we should report to school tomorrow afternoon for gas 
mask instruction. I also straightened up my kit bag this 
afternoon. Today the sun has been shining bright and the 
weather has been very much pleasanter than it has been for 
a long time. 

February 4, 1918:—We were up at 5:00 and went to stables 


32 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


and got our single mounts. We started from the gun park at 
7:00 and went to the southeast of camp. We established a 
position and finally started back. We were by ourselves and 
got lost. Not until 1:00 p.m. did we find our way back to 
camp, where we arrived at about 2:00. We put our horses 
away and came in for mess. Directly after mess we went to 
gas school which lasted until 5:00. We then came back and 
ate mess and went to a Non Corns school where we were told 
how we would leave for the front. It certainly sounds 
good????. I received 29 letters that had been forwarded to 
the hospital. I read all of them and then went to bed with 
a headache! 

February 5, 1918:—I got up at 4:30 this morning, got my 
single mount and left the gun park at 7:00. We went through 
Beignon and went into position. We were to have aerial ob¬ 
servation but it rained all day, so ‘March Order’ was given and 
we came in. I was wet to the skin and very cold. We got 
in about 11:30. I didn’t have time to change my wet clothes, 
but went up to eat mess and then came back to the canton¬ 
ment and took a smoke. At 1:00 the whole battery lined up 
and went to a gas mask lecture. After we came back Ed 
Bassett, Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff and I went out to locate a posi¬ 
tion. The rest of the battery went to stables. We estab¬ 
lished a position directly in front of observation B. We got 
in about 4:00, watered our mounts and I came in. Bassett 
stayed at stables. After I had eaten mess and stood retreat 
I took the plotting board over to Lieut. Knaff’s quarters. 
After we had finished our work I came back to the canton¬ 
ment took a shave and washed up. I then wrote some let¬ 
ters and went to bed about 8:30. [William H.] Bruning came 
back from the hospital this evening. 

February 6, 1918:—I was up early this morning and went 
out with the battery to the range where we intended to fire 
shrapnel, but it was so rainy, wet, and foggy that we came 
in about 10:00. I then washed some clothes, which took me 
until noon. I then ate mess and again went out to the gun 
position in the fourgon. We fired until 2:00 and then came 
in. After I had gotten in I found that I was on stable guard 
so I ate mess, collected my guard and went down to stables. 
There I made my bed in the hay. I sat around talking with 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


38 


Cpl. [Gordon E.] Miller who is in charge of stables, and 
saddler [Herman R.] Armstrong until 8:30 and then went to 
bed. It is still very rainy and wet. I might mention that 
this guard is a very informal one, the men take their posts 
and relieve one another. 

February 7, 1918:—I got up at 5:00 this morning and saw 
that all of the feeding was done. I then came up and ate 
mess. I went back to stables again where I stayed until noon. 
At 11:00 we fed the horses, it being so far to walk for mess 
we did not come in but stayed at stables until 5:00, when we 
were relieved. After I came in I ate a little mess but it was 
not very good and I did not eat very much. I did get [Edgar] 
Syrus to buy some bread, butter, jam and dates down at the 
end of the road, which I ate before going to bed. 

February 8, 1918:—This morning the battery lined up and 
went to a low sod house in the rear of observation post 0. 
There we put on our gas masks and went through a very low 
underground passage which contained chlorine gas. We 
stayed in this place about five minutes. The gas was very 
strong. One could see the greenish vapor in the air of the 
passage. We were made to test for gas by removing our nose 
clips and then we filed on out. We then came back to the 
cantonment where I helped to load harness. All of our 
harness is being packed and we will probably leave for the 
front before long. All of the officers from our regiment who 
had been sent up to the front are back now. The weather 
is still very bad and we wear boots most of the time. After 
eating my noon mess which consisted of bread, butter and jam 
I did a little washing in our corner by the stove. I then went 
with Sgt. [Wilbur B.] Morgan to the blacksmith shop where 
we did a little repairing on the fourgon. We are getting it 
ready to go to the front. We got back after mess time but 
we did get a little food; the rest of the evening I spent writ¬ 
ing letters. I am certainly getting so that I don’t care for 
mud or any other kind of dirt. In fact we often go for two 
days without washing our faces. 

February 9, 1918:—This morning we got up early and went 
to stables under full pack. We were at stables until 9:30 
when we went to the gun park and had a mounted inspection. 


3—22902 


34 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


We then came in and at 11:00 we were paid. After noon 
mess we started to pack the fourgon and we worked the rest 
of the afternoon, getting it ready to move. We then stood 
retreat where we were told to pack our ditty bags and wear 
our steel helmets from now on. After retreat [Edwin H.] 
Bassett, [William H.] Bruning and I went down to the end 
of the road where Bassett and I bought some high top shoes. 
We paid 140 francs for them. We then went to the Belle Vue, 
had a meal and came back to camp. I packed my ditty bag, 
oiled my shoes and turned in some old clothes and then went 
to bed. My feet are always wet now because my rubber boots 
leak very much. We think we will leave for the front Mon¬ 
day, or at least some time next week. 

February 10, 1918:—This morning Cpl. [William J.] Shine 
and myself took a detail of twenty men and went down to 
the station at the end of the road where we unloaded two 
car loads of oats, two car loads of wood and twenty car loads 
of hay. At noon Cpl. Shine and myself went to the hotel 
at the end of the road and had a good meal. At 4:45 we 
went back to camp. I wrote a few letters and then went to 
bed. 

February 11, 1918:—This morning we went to stables until 
9:00 and then went to a military funeral. 1 A Sergeant had 
been accidentally shot and killed. The band went first, fol¬ 
lowed by a caisson carrying the body. The caisson was cov¬ 
ered with an American flag, and was drawn by six black 
horses. Following the caisson was a group of officers all in 
formation and after them came the batteries of the regiment. 
Three volleys were fired over his grave and then ‘taps’ was 
sounded. We then went back to camp. The cemetery is out 
near the range in a pine grove. After we had eaten noon 
mess we went down to stables. We were only there about 
ten minutes when we were sent back to our cantonments and 
told to put our ditty bags at the foot of our cots ready to be 
shipped. We then went back to stables and while the horses 
were being groomed I filed two one half franc pieces to make 
rouls in my new spurs. When we came in our ditty bags 
were gone. I ate my mess and then put my new shoes on j ust 
to try them out. During the evening I wrote some letters 

(1) Sgt. Kent Stephenson Ritchie, of Indianapolis. Accidently shot February 9, 
1918, at Camp Coctquidan, France. Buried in Camp Coctquidan Cemetery. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


35 


and went to bed early. We now think we will leave on Fri¬ 
day or Saturday. 

February 12, 1918:—This morning we had pistol practice 
at the pistol range. After all of the non-coms and privates 
who carry pistols had fired, the officers took all men with a 
score over forty out of a possible fifty, and put them in a com¬ 
petition match. I came out fourth. We then came in and 
had our noon meal after which I went to bed and slept until 
4:30. Roberts and I went to a small cafe far behind our 
stables for our evening meal. After we had eaten our meal 
we met [Rogers H.] Tug’ George and Bryant Gillespie who 
were also going to have a meal in the little cafe. So back we 
went with them. We had no more than sat down when two 
M.P’s. came in and chased us back to camp. All passes even 
to the end of the road had been revoked. We then came back 
to the cantonment. Tug’ George and Bryant Gillespie ate 
some toast bread and jam that [Harold K.] Roberts and I 
had bought. During the short while we sat in the cafe with 
Tug’ and Bryant I believe I heard at least seven champagne 
bottles pop. The weather is still very miserable. We sat 
around our stove in the corner until about 8:00, and then went 
to bed. 

February 13, 1918:—This morning I stayed in to see that 
the cantonment was properly policed. All the rest of the men 
went to stables. Sgt. Morgan and I then worked on two large 
chests that we were putting in the fourgon. After mess we 
lined up with the battery and went out for gas mask drill. 
For some unknown reason, because never before has it hap¬ 
pened, they sent the detail in and the telephone detail worked 
on projectors while Sgt. Morgan, Bruning and I worked with 
the range finder. Vernon Kniptash, [W. Prescott] Hill; 
[Edward P.] Mooney, and [Major P.] Harrison were trans¬ 
ferred to Headquarters Co. a few days ago, as wireless oper¬ 
ators. At about 4:30 I went up to the little ‘White’ store behind 
officers quarters and bought some food. I then came back to 
the cantonment and ate a little. After retreat Gillespie, 
Morgan, Roberts, Bruning, Dick Bosson and I sat around the 
fire in our end of the cantonment. This same bunch generally 
holds a little session every night around the fire. At 6:30 all 
of the non-coms had a meeting in the first sergeant’s canton¬ 
ment. We were told about our entraining for the front and 


36 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


that we would have to hike in full pack tomorrow. I then 
wrote letters and went to bed pretty early. 

February 14, 1918:—This morning the whole battery went 
out on a mounted hike. For a wonder the detail was per¬ 
mitted to ride all of the way in the fourgon. After we had 
been in and eaten mess Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter gave 
the instrument detail a problem running a traverse. It took 
Sgt. Morgan, Bruning and myself until 5:00 to finish it up. 
We then came in, ate our mess and plotted the traverse on the 
plotting board. Trotter gave us another problem to do for 
tomorrow. About 8:00 we ate a little lunch and went to bed 
rather early. 

February 15, 1918:—This morning the whole battery went 
down to stables and washed harness. I came in early and 
put a new pole in the fourgon because we broke one going 
across a ditch near the Q.M. This afternoon Bruning and I 
went out with only the plotting board and aledade and located 
a position. This took us until 4:00, we came in, ate our mess, 
stood retreat and then Bruning and I made a cross section 
from the point we established this afternoon, to Beignon on 
the map. I then went over to the Y.M.C.A. and bought some 
candy and cakes for Bruning and Morgan. I have been 
‘broke’ ever since I bought my new shoes. Hence I feed on 
Bruning and Morgan. Went to bed at 7:30. 

February 16, 1918:—This morning the whole battery went 
on a long hike all in full marching order. The hike was a 
short one but the non-coms of the detail got to ride in the 
fourgon. We got back about 10:15 and from then on until 
noon I cleaned up my new shoes. Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trot¬ 
ter came in and told us a little about the few months he spent 
on the front. I ate mess and at 1:30 the detail went out with 
the projectors to practice some new signaling for latteral ob¬ 
servation. Bruning got up this new set of signals. ‘Pug’ 
[Rogers H.] George and I came in about 4:00 because we 
had to go on guard (stable guard) at 5:00. After we had 
eaten our mess we went down to stables, made our beds, not 
much hay; and sat down to talk a little. I went to bed very 
early and it was very cold. 

February 17, 1918:—I got up at 6:30 checked my guard 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


37 


and then came up to mess. I put on my high shoes and then 
went back to stables. We were relieved at 5:00 and then 
I came in for mess. I got two biscuits, a cup of coffee and 
some butter. [Bryant W.] Gillespie had some eggs and Sgt. 
Morgan had some bread, so we made poached eggs and toasted 
bread. I also had some cigarettes so we made out pretty well. 
After we had eaten, [Harold K.] Roberts and [Bryant W.] 
Gillespie tried to put on some harmony, the rest of us sat 
around the fire talking about home and smoking until bed 
time. 

February 18, 1918:—This morning the whole battery went 
to stables. After they had finished watering and grooming 
they washed harness. This work was not finished until noon. 
We then came in and had nothing to do until 2:00. Part of 
the detail then went out on projector practice, part went to 
stables and Sgt. Morgan and I went out and located a posi¬ 
tion by the three point method. We watched a French air¬ 
man for a little while, and then went to an old quarry and 
tried our pistols on a steel helmet. Our other hats were 
packed away in our ditty bags. We found out that these steel 
helmets hold up pretty well under pistol fire at twenty yards. 
When we came in we found mail awaiting us. We were sure 
glad as we expect to leave next Thursday. We then ate mess 
after which I went to the Y.M.C.A. with Bill Bruning. There 
we bought some chocolate and canned fruit. We then came 
back to the cantonment where I took a shave and then went 
to bed. 

February 19, 1918:—At 12:00 we ate mess and then the 
battery went out on equitation. Bruning, [Fred W.] Turner 
and I went out and ran a traverse from behind officers quar¬ 
ters down to the aviation field. We watched the aviator go 
up and make one landing and then we checked our traverse 
by the three point method. While we were out we stopped 
in a French home and bought sixteen eggs and then came in. 
Bruning and I poached some eggs and made some milk toast 
for our evening meal. After we stood retreat [Harold K.] 
Roberts, [Bryant W.] Gillespie, [William H.] Bruning, [Wil¬ 
bur B.] Morgan and myself crummed some hardtack and used 
it on tenderloins that Roberts had stolen somewhere. We sure 
had a fine feed. Ed Bassett had two cans of baked beans 


38 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


and stole a loaf of bread, then we scraped up sugar, canned 
milk and chocolate and made a bucket of hot chocolate. I 
supplied the cigarettes and a little later we were all a little 
drowsy from too much to eat. Bruning and I then went to 
bed. Tonight will probably be the last whole night’s sleep 
we get before starting for the front. 

February 20, 1918:—This morning most of the battery went 
to stables. Sgts. Morgan, Bosson and I packed the fourgon. 
We had to throw all of the boxes in which we kept our per¬ 
sonal junk, away. We also cleaned up around the canton¬ 
ment, tore all the shelves down that we had built for our own 
use, and then went over to the bath house which was open 
and took a bath. We are to leave tomorrow morning early. 
After noon mess we packed some more stuff in the fourgon. 
At about three we finished our work and then I lay down until 
five for a little nap. Bruning and I made milk toast for our 
evening meal. After we had come back to the cantonment 
from retreat we policed the place from one end to the other 
again. We then sat around until 7:00, when we started to 
pack our slicker rolls and packs. I put chocolate, nabiscos, 
sardines, hard tack and a can of tobacco in my pack. We 
finished packing about 8:30 and then Bruning and I went to 
bed. In the morning when we get up I will have only my 
blanket roll to make. We are supposed to get up at 1:15, 
take pieces, caissons, battery wagons, fourgon and all bat¬ 
tery property to Guer. We are to leave Guer at about 6:00 
for the front. 


CHAPTER III 
The Lorraine Front 


February 21, 1918:—At 1:15 this morning we got up, had 
mess and started our work. The drivers went to stables and 
the cannoniers went to the gun park. The machine gun squad 
and the detail stayed in and made a complete police of camp. 
I helped to load the fourgon. At 4:45 the battery pulled out 
toward Guer, we arrived there at about 6:00. The men car¬ 
ried all of their belongings and their packs. From the time 
we arrived there it was WORK. All of the horses were loaded 
into box cars and all of our battery wagons, pieces and cais¬ 
sons were loaded on flat cars. The men after they had fin¬ 
ished all of their work went to their cars; 40 men in one car 
and we could hardly turn around, not mentioning the fact 
that we were supposed to sleep in these cars. I bought a few 
apples to eat while on the train and then sat down to rest 
before we started. The cars that the men are in are prac¬ 
tically the same as those in which the horses are, and there 
are eight horses in a car. The B.C. detail is in a car to it¬ 
self. At about 9:40 we ate mess and at 10:00 we pulled out 
of Guer. The fellows have all brought a great deal of food 
along and so I don’t think we will go hungry. It was rain¬ 
ing when we left Guer but now the sun is out very bright, it 
is still pretty cool though. We are now rolling through 
France toward the front. Many of the peasants are along 
the track to see us pass. We all have our overcoats on and 
are sitting in the wide doors of the car watching the scenery. 
We went through Maure at 10:35 and through Messac at 
11:10, through Plechatel at 11:40, Guichen at 11:55, Bruz at 
12:45. We passed through some very pretty country, and 
very hilly. There were many stone quarries through this 
country in which very many German prisoners were working. 
At 1:00 we arrived in Rennes. There we stopped until 1:30. 
I have noticed that all of the railroad crossings are taken care 
of by women. At 1:40 we passed through Noyal, Servon at 
2:00, Chateaubourg at 2:10, Les Lacs at 2:20, Vitre at 2:45, 
Port Brillet at 3:10, Le Genest at 3:30, and stopped in Laval 
at 4:30. We stayed in Laval at the station until 5:45 where 


( 39 ) 



40 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


we were given something to eat and then our train started 
out again. It was dark before 6:30 and so we ail made our 
beds and crawled between our blankets early. Just before 
we pulled out of Guer they added four extra cars, so now we 
are not so crowded. 

February 22, 1918:—Last night we went through Le Mans 
and Chartres. We got up at 9:00 and had bread and jam for 
breakfast as the train had not stopped. Of course we had 
no chance to wash ourselves before eating for there certainly 
are no accommodations in these box cars. While we were 
eating the train stopped and we were given our food which 
consisted of bread, meat, cold baked beans and jam. We were 
given coffee by the French Red Cross women but it was no 
good. At 9:45 we started on, and at 10:00 we were all in bed 
again because it was so cold. The thought of missing all of 
the scenery soon got us out of bed again and we spent most 
of the rest of the day in the car door. We went through 
Boissy, Brie-Comte Robert, Verneiul and Mormant before 
noon. The sun is not shining today and the wind is very 
sharp, one can feel it a great deal while standing in the open 
door of one of these cars. The many hedges that we saw 
around Camp Coctquidan have given way to large trees, the 
fields are also very much larger. We can easily imagine the 
country as sunny France. We crossed the Seine River and 
were only about fifteen minutes run from Paris at noon today. 
We could easily see the Eiffel Tower from our car door. At 
12 :05 we went through Nangis. The country looks very much 
more prosperous and the railroads are very much better. We 
saw a great many American locomotives and some very large 
railroad yards in Choisy. The buildings are very much bet¬ 
ter built and they are really very pretty. We stopped at 
Longueville at 12:40, a very attractive little village. I no¬ 
ticed that the houses are comparatively new. There we ate 
a little of the food we had brought along and at 1:15 we again 
started on. At 2:20 we went through Romilly and at 6:00 
we stopped at Troyes. When we pulled out of Troyes Jim 
Fisher our barber, was left behind. The last I saw of him 
he was standing in the door of a cafe trying to buy something 
to drink. After leaving Troyes we passed many French ar¬ 
tillery schools. We went to bed about 8:00. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


41 


February 23, 1918:—We got up about 7:00 this morning 
and had bread and jam and sardines for breakfast. We saw 
many French and Algerian soldiers along the road. We ar¬ 
rived in Blainville at 8:25 and stopped for one half hour. 
The fellows all made their packs preparatory to getting off. 
After we had left Blainville we rode for about a half hour 
and then came into Rambervillers where we got off. All of 
the materiel was unloaded and the horses taken out of the 
cars. Many of the people of the village were out to see us 
unload. We had mess before we started on our hike for the 
front. Believe me it was some hike. We can now hear the 
guns booming and we passed through very many small villages 
that were pretty well shot up. We found to our surprise that 
most of these villages were occupied by English, French and 
Algerian troops. It was about 5:00 when we finally arrived 
in the small torn up village of Menarmont which were our 
billets. We immediately unhitched, watered and fed the 
horses. The wagons, pieces, caissons and kitchen was left 
standing in the street. We ate mess and then went to our 
quarters which are on the second floor, or rather loft, of a 
barn. It is a very musty old barn and not at all comfortable. 
It is also very cold. They say that about every night the 
place is bombarded by aeroplane. I am now going to bed very 
tired, cold and not caring for air raid or anything else. The 
rest of the battery is sleeping in other torn down houses 
throughout the village. It is now 8:00. 

February 24, 1918:—We got up at 5:45, stood reveille and 
then ate mess. I then washed my hands and face for the 
first time since we left Guer. Looking at this village during 
the day certainly shows that it has been under shell fire at 
one time or other. [Cpl. William H.] Bruning and I then 
made a complete map of the village for the Captain. We 
then straightened up our quarters and then ate noon mess. 
The horses are kept in the barn directly under where we sleep. 
This afternoon the battery cleaned up things in general, 
harness was washed and the horses were gone over again. 
During the afternoon the Captain called all of the non-coms 
to a meeting and we were given our instructions. Non-coms 
are now to be quartered separate from the privates. After 
the meeting Bruning and I took a walk around the village just 


42 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


to look things over. Our food is pretty fair and the weather 
today has been a great deal better. One battery of French 
75s went through here today going toward the front. I went 
to bed about 6:45. 

February 25, 1918:—This morning while the drivers went 
to the stables, the detail and the cannoniers went out on a 
hike about four miles. We looked at some gun pits that had 
been used during the early part of the war. We then had 
some drill in manual of arms, after which we came in. This 
afternoon the detail had some wigwag and projector practice. 
At noon I went on guard. There are always three Corporals 
of the guard, so we flipped a coin to see which would get the 
best eight hour shift. I happened to be the lucky one and I 
am through at 8:00. I covered a big hole in a window with 
some old horse blankets and then made my bed. It is rainy 
and very cold out doors; and I have had wet feet for so long 
now that I will not know how to act when I get good and 
dry again. One can not dry a thing by hanging it up because 
the longer it hangs the damper it gets. This country cer¬ 
tainly has miserable weather. 

February 26, 1918:—At 3 a.m. we were awakened by the 
bugle and we got up only to And that we were going to move. 
We got all of our personal belongings together, packed the 
fourgon, ate mess and by 8:00 we were moving away from 
our little village toward the front. The entire battery started 
out in one long column but naturally some of the wagons 
got stuck because they were loaded very heavy and the roads 
were not any too good. Our ration wagon was one to get 
stuck so I took four men and went back to help out. We had 
to unload the entire wagon of rations, which consisted of 
beans, bacon, jam, hardtack, etc. An extra team was sent 
back from the battery and with their aid we finally got on 
our way again. We had not gone far when we came to 
another one of our wagons that was fast and we helped them 
out, so the two wagons moved along far in the rear of the 
battery. We passed through many little villages that were 
complete ruins, and at noon we stopped in one of these vil¬ 
lages to eat our mess. Being on the ration wagon we ate 
heartily. During that time we saw two French planes far up 
in the air. About 1:00 we started on again. We saw some 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


43 


very beautiful scenery along the road. We could also see 
several observation balloons which were up near the front. 
Many planes were flying about. About 2:00 in the afternoon 
we saw a German plane being fired on by French anti-aircraft 
guns. The German plane had been in battle with a French 
plane. We went through Baccarat at about 4:00 and at 4:30 
we caught up with the battery. We then stopped and ate 
mess and at 5:00 started on. All of our pieces, caissons, and 
battery wagons were pulled up into a large pine woods. Sev¬ 
eral of our large wagons got stuck while trying to pull through 
the mud to get up into the large woods. One of our large 
char-de-parcs tipped over and of course it took a very long 
while for the men to get it up and bring it to where the rest 
of the wagons were parked. I helped dig the mud away from 
the wheels but that got too tiresome and I left about 11:00 
and went up to the woods where the fellows were putting up 
a picket line. After everything had been put in order we got 
our packs and started toward our sleeping place for the night. 
We walked about one-half mile to some cantonments or rather 
old barns. Lofts had been built in one half of the barn and 
sleeping places had been partitioned off. These separate places 
for each man were filled with hay, and after we had unrolled 
our blanket rolls and made our beds the place took on a rather 
comfortable aspect. Everything is very well camouflaged, 
even the buildings are painted so as to resemble banks of green 
grass and blend in with the rest of the surroundings. We 
can hear batteries of French 75s going along the main road 
toward the front and they say that we are within rifle shot 
of the front. I am rather disappointed because we can hear 
only an occasional shot and things do not seem at all lively. 
We all went to bed about 12:30 and took nothing off except 
our shoes. During the day the sun shone very bright but 
about 8:00 it started to snow and now it is very cold and 
miserable out of doors. 

February 27, 1918:—We got up at 6:00, had mess, and then 
went over to the stables where we took care of the horses and 
then our detail unpacked the fourgon. It is very rainy and 
cold. Yesterday’s trip was a very trying one and most of the 
fellows are not feeling very full of 'pep’ this morning. We 
could hear some of the guns on the front last night after we 
had gone to bed. They sounded just like thunder. Our guns 


44 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


were pulled into position last night. Several of our battery 
wagons that had gotten stuck last night were pulled out this 
morning. This morning the telephone detail started to string 
wire from the picket line to the battery office and then from 
the battery office to the gun position which is about three miles 
from our quarters. The cannoniers were out to the gun posi¬ 
tion to start work on the dug-outs. About 4:30 we got com¬ 
munication established. I had nothing to do so I helped the 
telephone detail string their wire. I looked over the dug-outs 
which are being enlarged and they surely look like they will 
be very comfortable when they are finished. During the night 
we can go outside and see the guns flash. My feet are very 
wet and I will not get to take my clothes off tonight because 
it is too cold. I have not had a chance to wash my face or 
hands since we left our billets in the little village of Menar- 
mont. I certainly do feel very dirty. It is now 7:30, I am 
going out and watch the guns flash for a while and then go 
to bed. 

February 28, 1918:—This morning we had reveille at 5:15. 
We stood roll call in a pouring rain, in fact half sleet and 
very cold. My shoes did not dry last night in spite of the 
fact that I filled them with oats; you can imagine just how 
comfortable I feel. All of the men went to stables this morn¬ 
ing and a place more muddy than this pine woods in which 
our horses are kept can not be found I am sure. I stayed in 
our barn instead of going down to stables because I was so 
very tired. About 11:00 I went over to the fourgon and got 
the aiming circle for Sgt. [Wilbur B.] Morgan. He took the 
aiming circle out to the gun position. We wear our rain-coats 
over our overcoats and I have been wet for so long that I will 
hardly feel right again when I get dry clothes on. Our food 
is not at all good. Nearly every meal consists of hard-tack, 
‘corned willie’ and strong coffee with no sugar or cream. The 
boys are very disgusted. We can always hear the guns on 
the front but there does not seem to be a very great deal of 
fighting. This afternoon I told a regular lie so that I could 
stay in and wash and shave. The first shave I had had since 
leaving the little village. We have not had a fire either to 
get warm by or to dry clothes by since we left Guer. I did 
not go over to mess because I was so tired, and at 6:00 [Ed¬ 
win H.] Bassett, [William H.] Bruning and I went to bed. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


45 


March 1, 1918:—My shoes were so wet this morning that 
I could hardly get them on. It has been snowing since 12:00 
last night. I don’t believe any one of the fellows have had 
a chance to write home since we left Guer. When we do get 
a few minutes off we usually lie down and go to sleep. I went 
to stables this morning and such a mud hole I have never seen 
in all my life. I did not stay there very long however, be¬ 
cause my feet were so wet and cold I could not stand it any 
longer. This certainly is h- and I don’t believe the fel¬ 

lows can hold out very much longer. We are made to stay 
on the board walks and roads all of the time so as not to 
make new tracks that could be photographed from an aero¬ 
plane. Our cooks have to work all night because we have 
men who work all night and come in any time during the 
night; they must at least have a cup of hot coffee when they 
come in. One never has any rest and we haven’t time to think 
of mail from home. After I got in from stables I hunted up 
my old boots and stole a new pair of socks. I then lay down 
and slept until 4:00. When I got up I ate mess and then 
went out to the gun position in charge of a squad of drivers 
to finish digging on the dug-outs. We worked out there until 
9:45 and during that time we heard a very good ten minute 
barrage on the front. We could very easily see many of the 
star shells which are sent into the air to light up ‘No Man’s 
Land’ during a battle. We then walked in to the canton¬ 
ments where we had a cup of hot coffee and then went to 
bed. Four shells lit on Baccarat during the night. 

March 2, 1918:—We were allowed to sleep until 6:30 this 
morning and when we got up it was the same old story; put 
on your old wet clothes, because there is absolutely no place 
to dry them. For our meals we are still having hardtack, 
‘corned willie’ and black coffee. All of us then went to stables 
where we groomed the horses and they were sure full of mud. 
While down there we ran into a number of French and Italian 
soldiers and we had quite a time talking to them. Last night 
while we were at the gun position we saw three French bat¬ 
teries of 75s going toward the front. These batteries were 
followed by many wagon loads of ammunition. The French 
are also putting in three batteries of 270 (Mil) guns quite 
near us. The Italian soldiers that are around here are the 
Italian soldiers who took part in the Italian defense against 



46 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


the Germans in 1917. At stables our picket line must be 
moved every day because there is so very much mud. Di¬ 
rectly after noon mess the men again went to stables, but were 
allowed to come in at 2:30. I tried to sleep but the French 
75s were putting over a barrage and there was too much noise. 
On the way in I noticed that there were a great many 105s 
going into position quite near our cantonment. All of these 
105 batteries were French. I also noticed that these French 
did not stay up all night to get their dugouts made, but were 
letting it go until the next day. I went to bed about 10:30. 

March 3, 1918:—I could have slept until 7:00 this morning 
but I decided that I would like to be at the guns so I got up 
at 5:15 and went out to the gun position with the cannoniers. 
I helped camouflage all day long. The rest of the fellows 
were putting the wooden frame work in the dugouts. We all 
had to run into the dugouts once today when we sighted an 
aeroplane but nothing happened. The fellows nearly went 
wild today at noon when we were given beef hot out of the 
can and bread instead of ‘corned willie.’ During the after¬ 
noon we all gathered more brush and grass and completed 
the camouflaging. I took a notion about 2:00 to take a little 
walk so I went far up in front of the battery and sat down 
behind a bush. I happened to have some letters in my pocket 
that I had received from home and I read all of those over and 
also looked at some pictures that I had along. I then gath¬ 
ered an arm load of grass and went back to the battery. At 
5:00 we started in to our cantonments and believe me it was 
all we could do to walk back in we were so tired. We went 
to mess as soon as we got in and directly after mess I went 
to bed. 

March 4, 1918:—Sgt. [Wilbur B.] Morgan and I started 
out to run a traverse from Montigny to a new gun position 
we had established. We finished our work about 11:00 and 
it sure was a mean job because it had been snowing hard and 
it was very cold. We were up in the third line trenches and 
we could easily see the effects of shelling through this part 
of the country. The French have little narrow gauge rail¬ 
roads running through all of these pine woods, going toward 
the front. These railroads are the means by which the men 
in the front lines receive their supplies. The country up 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


47 


around here is completely covered with barbf'j. wire entangle¬ 
ments. We also saw a French anti-airc^Uit battery. 

March 5, 1918:—Last night the French put on an awful 
barrage. The beds that we were sleeping in shook as though 
they were going to cave in and the noise reminded one of a 
very fierce thunder storm. It lasted about one-half hour. I 
got up at 6:30 and I’ll say I never slept colder in all my life. 
I went over my guard and watched to see that the food for 
the horses was gotten ready. I then went over and had my 
breakfast. Our food supply came in last night and now we 
are feeding well. I then came back to stables and during the 
morning I saw five German planes. All of them were fired 
on by French anti-aircraft guns and I would say that I could 
see at least fifty of these little puffs of smoke, from the burst¬ 
ing air-craft shells, in the air at one time. We picked up 
several pieces of the shrapnel from these bursting shells and 
they were still warm. The 151st F.A. has fired a little dur¬ 
ing the past few days and we heard that some of the Minne¬ 
sota boys had been injured from German shell fire. 

March 6, 1918:—After stealing a pair of socks this morn¬ 
ing I went over and had mess. After breakfast Cpl. [William 
H.] Bruning and I went over to the little room that is occu¬ 
pied by the Sergeants. We cleaned instruments all morn¬ 
ing, or rather we closed the door and kept out of work. About 
two o’clock I went over to the barracks and organized my 
bunk. When I came out again I was surprised to see the old 
group of fellows who had left us at Camp Mills, Long Island, 
here ready to go on a horse detail. They were all out on the 
road and had just arrived from the coast. They were cer¬ 
tainly glad to see all of we fellows again. Their voyage across 
was far more unpleasant than ours. We then ate mess and 
about 1:00 had a gas mask inspection because we fully expect 
a gas attack tonight. We have about seven hundred gas shells 
at the battery and I think that they will fire them tonight. 
We have to wear our gas masks in an alert position all of 
the time and have them within easy reach when we go to bed. 
Sgts. [Wilbur B.] Morgan and [Richard M.] Bosson went up 
to the front line trenches today and they said that the H.E. 
[high explosive] shells were bursting all around them while 
they were there. We got mail tonight and I got only four 



48 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


letters. I am now going to bed fully expecting a shelling 
or a gas attack sometime before I get up. 

March 7, 1918:—We had our respirators near us all night 
but no gas alarm was sounded. After I had stood reveille 
and ate mess I went over to Sgt. Morgan's quarters where 
we looked over a map which showed all of our positions, etc. 
This front around us has been a very quiet sector for the 
past two years but now it is beginning to liven up a bit. Sgt. 
Morgan said that* No Man's Land' was completely covered with 
barbed wire. He said that he also saw several Germans walk¬ 
ing around back of the German trenches. He also saw an 
American sentry killed while on post. Our signal for a gas 
attack here at the billets is the sounding of a large empty 75 
shell which is made of brass and which makes plenty of noise. 
About noon there was a call for Morgan, Bruning and myself 
to go directly out to the gun position. We immediately got 
our single mounts and hurried to the gun position. I had the 
honor of laying off the azmuth and giving the guns their 
deflection; the first time I had ever done this in actual firing. 
Sgt. [Bryant W.] Gillespie's section fired the first ten rounds 
at three o’clock. Wilbur Berauer fired the first shot fired by 
Battery A against the Germans. We fired on a machine gun 
position and [Sgt. Wilbur B.] Morgan, [Cpl. William H.] 
Bruning, [Lt. Clarence E.] Trotter and the Captain [Sidney 
S. Miller] were observing from the first line trenches. Fir¬ 
ing is getting to be rather common and tonight the bursts are 
so close that the concussion causes our beds to shake. 

March 8, 1918:—This morning after eating mess Bruning 
and I went to the Sergeant quarters to kill time. I wrote a 
few letters before it was time to eat noon mess. During the 
afternoon Bruning and I went to stables just to have some¬ 
thing to do. While we were wishing for something to do 
while at the stables we heard anti-aircraft bursts, and upon 
looking we saw one of the prettiest battles between a French¬ 
man and a German that one could wish to see. The French 
airman's machine gun would not work so he took flight and 
the German turned and went toward his own lines, followed 
by hundreds of anti-aircraft bursts. After retreat and mess 
Bruning, Bassett and I went about 100 yards above our can¬ 
tonments to look at a High Explosive shell crater. Mail came 


















Mail while on the front. Standing: Pete Clift and Fred Turner. Sitting: Julian Hoover, 
LeRoy Thomas, Carl Moorman, Ferrel Potter, Russell Lamkin, Richard Bosson, Joe Simms, Leslie 
Coleman and Roderick . (our French-Canadian intf ureter). Photograph by Elmer F. Straub. 









A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


49 


in and I helped to distribute it. I then read my own and then 
went to bed. 

March 9, 1918:—At 10:30 I went out to the guns and laid 
them out according to the dope the Captain had figured. I 
ate noon mess at the guns and at 1:05 we started to fire. We 
had two hundred rounds to fire by 6:05 in the evening and 
it was sure done in fine fashion. Our targets were communi¬ 
cation trenches, dug-outs and machine gun emplacements. 
Sgt. [Bryant W.] Gillespie’s section got two direct hits and 
Bruning said that things were sure torn up. After they had 
finished firing I came in to the battery echelon, had my mess 
and went to bed. 

March 10, 1918:—After noon mess Bruning and I cleaned 
up our saddles. About 1:30 a little mail came in, which I 
helped to distribute; I got one box out of the deal. After 
all of the mail had been given out they lined us up and took 
us to a portable French Red Cross bath house. The water 
was fine and ice cold which made it very pleasant! When we 
got back evening mess was ready, we had beans, bread, black 
->ffee and bread pudding for our evening meal. We also 
-xioved our watches up one hour so as to have more daylight 
working hours. It seems very strange to see the men plow¬ 
ing and the women and children working in the fields in spite 
of the fact that they are in constant danger of being shelled 
by the Germans. I might mention that our battery position 
is a very modern one. Each section has a dug-out large 
enough to accommodate twelve men. The Captain has a dug- 
out which he shares with the Lieutenants of the battery. The 
battery machine gun is just to the left and a little in front of 
ie guns. Each section has a separate gun pit and each gun 
pit is very well camouflaged. In the supply of ammunition 
that we now have there are (F.A. service shells), O.A. and 
gas shells. The report has come in to us that the 151st men 
while in an advanced position were gassed and as a result sev¬ 
eral of their men are in the hospital. Montigny was pretty 
well torn up night before last and during the time of the 
shelling several of the shells fell very close to our cantonment. 
Our communication was cut and today the boys had to go out 
and repair it. Things are running very much smoother now 
and the fellows are very much more satisfied. The weather 
is getting to be very pleasant. 


4—22902 


50 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


March 11, 1918:—This morning Bruning and I saw that the 
fourgon harness was washed and cleaned up. I also heard 
that there was another training camp to start the beginning 
of next month. After our noon mess, Cpl. [John U.] Bosson, 
four men and myself went out to cut poles to elevate our 
wires. I cut fifteen poles and it sure was good exercise. 
Quite a few ambulances have passed our cantonments today 
coming from the front. There must have been some pretty 
hot action on the front during the past twenty-four hours. 
After evening mess Bruning and I took a walk to Montigny 
and went to the Y.M.C.A. where we got some figs and choco¬ 
late and then came home. I smoked a last cigarette for the 
day, read a little in my Testament and then went to bed. 

March 12, 1918:—Just before we got up this morning the 
thunder of a French-German barrage was something awful. 
The whole battery with the exception of the drivers went out 
to the gun position. Part of our telephone detail started at 
building steps in the telephone dug-out. Sgt. [Wilbur B.] 
Morgan, Cpl. Bruning and I walked over to Hablainville to 
make a billeting sketch of the village. On our way to this 
village we noticed that many of the roads were blocked and 
signs had been posted stating that, “No passage allowed on 
this road during the day.” There were also guards stationed 
at these places to see that no one passed. Most of the roads 
are all camouflaged along the side toward the front, and some 
of them are even camouflaged over the top. Even this close 
to the front the women can be seen going about their farm 
work as though nothing unusual was happening. We are be¬ 
tween one and one-half miles and two miles from the German 
front lines. All of these little French villages are full of 
French soldiers. After we had finished our map we ate our 
mess with the 117th Engineers who are billeted in this village. 
The 117th Engineers are from California. We then started 
back toward the battery by the way of Vaxainville. We ar¬ 
rived at the battery at 4:30. 

March 13, 1918:—This morning Bruning and I went up 
on the hill just above our echelon and made a sector sketch of 
the surrounding country just for the practice of it. I then 
went up to the top of the hill in front of our battery and made 
another sector sketch. I can not write letters because they 
always think one is loafing if one writes at any other time 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


51 


than in the evening. Of course when we do write during the 
evening we have no other light than that of a candle. I saw 
another dandy air battle today. The German took flight upon 
the arrival of three other French planes. 

March 14, 1918:—About noon Bruning was ordered up to 
the observation post and I was ordered to report to the guns. 
Bruning and I now take forty-eight hour shifts at the guns. 
The battery fired during the afternoon using aerial observa¬ 
tion part of the time. About 3:10 the Germans started to 
fire on us and I’ll say they were sure close and they sure 
made the dirt fly. We all went to our dug-outs and stayed 
there until they had finished firing at us. 

March 15, 1918:—I got up at 6:15 this morning not feel¬ 
ing very well because I slept cold all night. I got thirteen 
letters which I immediately read. By the time I had finished 
reading my letters it was time for noon mess. I went to 
evening mess with Sgt. Gillespie and while there we noticed 
that the shells were lighting not very far in front of the bat¬ 
tery. After mess Gillespie and I went to the telephone dug- 
out where a French signalman from the infantry was visiting. 
We talked for a long time with this Frenchman as he had some 
very interesting things to tell about the front. I finally went 
to Sgt. [Bryant W.] Gillespie’s dug-out and went to bed. 

March 16, 1918:—I was allowed to sleep until 7:15 this 
morning. After noon mess I slipped away from the echelon 
and went to a small pine woods where I sat down to write a 
few letters. While I was writing I heard the bursts of anti¬ 
aircraft guns and naturally I looked to see where the air 
battle was. All during the afternoon I saw several good bat¬ 
tles and when I came in I found out that [Charles] Julian 
Hoover had been hit on the head with a piece of falling shrap¬ 
nel. He is the first man to be wounded from our battery. 

March 17, 1918:—This morning when we stood reveille we 
were told that we would have a day of rest. All during the 
day I lay around, wrote a few letters and cleaned up my shoes. 
The French and Germans were good enough to stage several 
good air battles during the day. Out of all these battles I 
have never seen one plane come down. The Germans seem 
to be far superior in the air. We had a very good noon mess. 


52 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


During the afternoon we heard very much shooting off to the 
east of our sector. After evening mess and retreat Bill 
[William J.] Shine and I started out to see something. On 
our way we met John Bosson and [Leslie H.] Coleman so 
the four of us walked as far toward the front as we could. 
Coleman and I had glasses and we sat for a long while watch¬ 
ing the bursts of German shells in a little French village about 
a half mile in front of us down in the valley. It was nearly 
dusk and a little hazy but still we could see very well. The 
batteries in the little village were also firing because we could 
see the flashes from their guns. Then as we were standing 
in a perfectly open field we heard a whistle and a s-s-s-s-s-s-s 
and then a bang. I knew just what it was but Bill Shine 
didn’t, and I can only remember seeing Bill’s white face with 
a very scared look on it as I was falling toward the ground 
to get out of the way of flying fragments. It was Bill’s first 
time to dodge a burst and he didn’t know what to do. Gee! 
but the dirt flew and the earth shook, but we all came out in 
one piece. Believe me from then on Bill knew just what to 
do. We all crawled into a wicker work trench nearby and 
there waited until eight shells had burst within 100 feet of 
us. I then crawled out to see just how large the holes were 
that these shells were making, but take it from me I was not 
long in crawling back to the trench toward the rear and finally 
came out on the road far away from the shelling and out of 
immediate danger. Upon my arrival at the cantonments I 
received the orders that I was to report to the gun position 
mounted in the morning at 8:30. I then went to bed. 

March 18, 1918:—Well today has been what I call a regu¬ 
lar day. I got my mount and reported at the gun position at 
8:30. Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter, Sgt. [Richard M.] Bos¬ 
son, Pete [Clarence E.] Clift and I immediately left with a 
pair of glasses and the observation scope for the observation 
post, the name of which is Duval,—named in memory of a 
French major who had been killed near this spot. We rode 
within one mile of the post part of the way along a narrow 
gauge supply railroad. Nearly all of the way was through 
a very thick pine woods. After we had tied our horses very 
securely in this pine wood we followed a split board walk that 
had been built by the French, to the observation post. We 
then entered an underground passage which was all lined with 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


53 


timber and boards. We walked about one square through this 
dark passageway and finally entered a very small room. In 
the side of the room toward the front was a slit about as high 
in the wall as the level of one’s sight. It was about six inches 
wide and about six feet long. Through this slit we used our 
glasses to look over the German lines. We stayed there about 
three hours looking over a network of barbed wire entangle¬ 
ments and at the German lines. I was very anxious to see and 
I strained my eyes to get all that I could in view. ’ I could 
see the little village of Domevre which is now in German 
hands; it lies practically in the very front lines of the Ger¬ 
mans. I also saw one German and his green uniform shown 
very bright in the sunshine. Shells were whistling over our 
heads almost continually both coming and going. At 12 :00 
we started back and then got to see the shells bursting and 
throwing the dirt from the road that leads into Montigny 
from the front. Of course we did not go through Montigny 
during this shelling but turned off and went through Mingue- 
ville. While we were eating evening mess we could hear the 
shells bursting about % of a mile in front of our battery and 
a little later we saw the boys of the 151st come running past 
our position as fast as they could run. They had been shelled 
and the bursting shells that we had heard while we were eat¬ 
ing had been lighting directly on their battery. After we had 
been told as much about the shelling as the 151st boys could 
tell us Cpl. [John M.] Skidmore, 1 Sgt. [Karl F.] Moore and 
I immediately started for the E Battery 151st position to see 
what we could. The shelling was practically all over, just a 
few odd shells were dropping here and there. We had gotten 
nearly to the battery when one of the E Battery Lieutenants 
came up to us; we naturally thought that he was going to keep 
us away from the place but to our surprise he was a ‘white 
man’, and he gave us permission to look around. The shells 
had damaged nearly all of their dug-outs and one of their 
pieces was put entirely out of action. While we were look¬ 
ing at the dug-outs some French soldiers who had also been 
looking at the damage came up to us and said that there was 
tear gas around the guns. None of us could smell it so we 
went down to where the guns were. We were only there for 
a few moments when we began to feel our eyes smarting, 
tears began to come to our eyes so we turned back. By the 


1 See p. 14. 


54 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


time we had gotten a little distance from the battery we no¬ 
ticed that our eyes were very red and I think we were lucky 
to get away because we did not realize the danger at the time. 
All of the E Battery men were gone so we went back to our 
position and went to bed. I slept at the guns all night. 

March 19, 1918:—After mess this morning I cleaned up a 
bit and the rest of the day I played around the telephone dug- 
out. I read a little during the evening and went to bed about 
10:30. 

March 20, 1918:—Last night and all during today the 
French Marines have been bringing in their large six inch 
rifles. They now have eleven of them in place and they cer¬ 
tainly have a great lot of ammunition. Their whole outfit 
is completely motorized. Bruning came out to relieve me this 
morning and was mounted so I rode his horse back to the 
echelon. I was then assigned a mount and full equipment for 
a long hike we are going to take. We think that we are going 
back to be motorized. I had no more than put my equipment 
away when Sgt. [Wilbur B.] Morgan came in and told me to 
get my mount. We both went up to the observation post with 
the Captain while the battery fired. We first went to the bat¬ 
tery where we met Perry Lesh. Perry had a phone and I 
took the head of the observation scope and we started for the 
front. We had to leave our horses in Montigny because shells 
were falling all around in front of us. We started to walk 
toward the observation post and we again took the route along 
the little tramway so as to get out of the way of the burst¬ 
ing shells. On our way up we had to drop to the ground 
about a dozen times to get out of the way of flying fragments. 
One time we heard a shell whiz over our heads and we all 
turned to see it light. We had turned just in time to see it 
go directly through the roof of a large stone barn. A large 
cloud of stone dust went into the air and the next moment 
the walls of the barn collapsed. They were shelling the road 
to Montigny. We had to walk about a mile and a half along 
this tramway to the village of Anslerville and believe me, the 
shells were flying over our heads all of the time. From 
Anslerville we had to walk stooped over until we got to the 
observation post. We stayed there until 6:00, the Captain 
was registering on an auxiliary target so that he could trans- 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


55 


port his fire during a barrage that we will put on tonight. At 
6:20 our battery began to fire and continued for one hour and 
fifteen minutes. We then started back and had no trouble 
getting back because the shelling had stopped during the time 
that we were at the O.P. Perry and I went back to the can¬ 
tonments and between Montigny and our cantonments we no¬ 
ticed that a group of French dug-outs had been completely 
torn up during the shelling this afternoon. After put¬ 
ting away and feeding our horses we fed ourselves and then 
went to our quarters. There is a terrific barrage being put 
up by the batteries immediately around our cantonments and 
the noise is fierce. This firing is also drawing German fire 
very close to us. Went to bed at 10:00. 

March 21, 1918:—The battery has been fired on all day 
long but the Germans did not have quite the right range be¬ 
cause none of the bursts came close enough to do any dam¬ 
age. Our battery was returning the fire as fast as they could. 
Sgt. [Wilbur B.] Morgan took a little trip to Baccarat today 
so I waited until he returned and then went to bed. The 
men at the guns had a slight gas attack last night. 

March 22, 1918:—This morning I organized my belongings, 
preparatory to leaving at 5 a.m. I then got a mount and went 
out to the guns to relieve [Cpl. William H.] Bruning. Just 
about noon the order came down to fire twenty rounds so I 
got the aiming circle out, laid the battery and we fired the 
rounds in good fashion. All of our instruments were then 
sent in to the echelon and the telephone dug-out was tom up. 
The guns are still laid in case of emergency. All of our tele¬ 
phone wires have been taken down and we are all ready to 
move. At six we ate mess and we had no more than finished 
when the Germans started to fire on us. We worked all of 
the time but were continually ducking High Explosive shells. 
All of the French had left their guns and we had to take to 
the dug-outs several times. Shells lit within thirty feet of 
our guns and dug-outs but we kept on working. Suddenly 
there came a gas alarm and all of us had to put on our gas 
masks. It was either tear or mustard gas, I do not know 
which. I do know that we pulled the second and third pieces 
out of the pits onto the road with our gas masks on, and I’ll 
say it was mighty hot work. Finally the Captain declared 


56 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


“All clear” and masks were taken off. The char-de-parc was 
brought up and loaded under fire and it was sure taken away 
in a hurry. The drivers then came up after the pieces and 
the shells started to light close, just over our heads across the 
road. The pieces were just out and I thought that I would 
stay for one last thrill when three shells lit in the road directly 
behind the last piece so I waited for a slack in the shelling and 
beat it. After we were well on our way I turned to take a 
last look at the position and to my surprise all of the weeds 
directly in front of the battery were on fire, started by an in¬ 
cendiary shell. When I got to our cantonments I finished 
packing the fourgon and then went to my quarters where I 
organized my junk for in the morning. I went to bed at 
10:00 with all of my clothes on. 


CHAPTER IV 
A Training Sector 

March 23, 1918:—This morning at 2 :00 we were awakened 
and we immediately started to get things in order for the hike. 
We had just finished our breakfasts of bacon, gravy, bread 
and coffee when the Germans started to shell our billets. It 
is a wonder that no one was hit because shells lit all around 
us. Not a horse or any of the men were touched. We finally 
pulled out just as the day was beginning to dawn. Just after 
we were well under way Ed [Edwin F.] Coridan who had 
been drinking a little, staggered too close to the wheel of one 
of our pieces and was run over. He of course could not walk; 
so I helped to carry him to the side of the road. I took my 
knife and cut off his shoe and sock and then left him with a 
few of the men until an ambulance could pick him up. He 
was later taken to the hospital. We hiked about ten miles, 
through Baccarat, to the little village of Fontenoy where we 
are now billeted. Four of us non-coms are billeted on the 
second floor of a little French home. They say that this town 
is pro-German and I have heard a little German spoken here. 
About six this evening Headquarters and Supply pulled into 
this village. [Vernon] Kniptash was with them and of course 
we were all glad to see one another. Regimental brought 
the story in that during the day our gun position and our old 
cantonments were completely torn up by German fire. Knip 
[Vernon Kniptash] said that last night they had received over 
wireless a message stating that the Germans had started their 
great offensive extending from Luneville to the North Sea. 
It also stated that the Germans were battling in mass forma¬ 
tion and that as a result the French and English were just 
simply mowing them down; the Germans had nevertheless 
captured a whole battalion of English. That means a loss of 
about sixteen hundred men. 

March 24, 1918:—This morning the first thing we heard 
was that instead of going back to a rest camp we were to go 
farther north to an American front. Today is Palm Sunday 
and all of the French are going to church. They dress up 


(57) 


58 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


in their best wooden shoes and patched clothes, but still I can 
not understand these people, they all take a hand full of pussy¬ 
willows to church with them, but I suppose it’s all right. This 
afternoon we sat around most of the time, had a little inspec¬ 
tion to see what equipment we were lacking. We will prob¬ 
ably be issued full equipment while here, rest a little while 
and then go to the regular sector. The inspection took us 
until 5:00 and then we stood retreat. I then went out and 
bought two dozen eggs which I gave to the woman in whose 
house we are staying; she is going to fix them up for us at six 
o’clock. As soon as retreat was over I went down to the 
kitchen and stole a loaf of bread because the French can not 
supply us with bread as they only get 454 grams per person 
each week. I had to wrap the loaf of bread in a rain coat 
to get away with it. I brought it back to the kitchen and 
there we had our two dozen eggs, all the potatoes we could 
eat, four quarts of milk for our evening meal. For the whole 
meal we only paid nine and one half francs. Roderich, a 
little French Canadian now in the detail, acts as our inter¬ 
preter. The French woman told us very many interesting 
things about the Germans when they were in this small vil¬ 
lage. She said that they took anything that they happened 
to want and that many of the French families had been robbed 
of all they had. She also said that the men in the 167th In¬ 
fantry were frightened to death when they went through this 
village. After we had talked for a long while [Cpl. William 
H.] Bruning and I went up to our place and went to bed. 

March 25, 1918:—This morning immediately after mess I 
took charge of a detail to police the main street of the village 
and of course they found a hundred and one other things 
to do. We finished our work about 10:30 and were dismissed. 
I then went to my quarters and gave my pistol a thorough 
cleaning. After noon mess we all made our packs containing 
equipment A for an inspection at 2:00; I believe they would 
hold inspections etc. if we were being pursued by the Boche. 
At 2:00 they lined us up and then marched us out into an open 
field nearby, where they made us lay out, on the ground, 
everything we had. We got back to the village about 4:00. 
I then went out and bought some jam and sardines and milk; 
I ate my evening meal in my quarters. A little mail came 
in but none for me. We heard today that the Germans had a 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


59 


long distance gun and that they had fired on Paris. We also 
heard that the British and French were mowing the Germans 
down in masses. The ‘snow’ we had about being motorized 
seems to be developing very rapidly and I think that before 
long we will get rid of all our horses. The men are in fairly 
good spirits but a little disgusted because they are never satis¬ 
fied at seeing us sit down. Sgt. [Wilbur B.] Morgan started 
as Top-Sergeant today as Sgt. [Frank T.] Hastings is leaving 
for a training camp. It is now 7:30 and I think I will go to 
bed very shortly. 

March 26, 1918:—This morning after reveille the Captain 
took seven of we men, gave us flag kits and at 8:00 the whole 
battery pulled out. We seven men followed the Captain. We 
went about two miles out of the village, and the battery went 
into position. It was all done just to keep us busy. We prac¬ 
ticed a little semaphore and at 9:30 we started back. I also 
took advantage of an opportunity to weigh myself this morn¬ 
ing and was surprised to find that I weigh 190 pounds. Lieuts. 
[Aloys] Knaff and [Charles D.] Clift have gone to a school 
for motorized battery work. A Y.M.C.A. truck came through 
this morning and of course we bought all that we could from 
it. About 5:00 we had retreat and then we went into our lit¬ 
tle French woman’s house where we had 16 eggs, very many 
potatoes and milk. It was sure a good meal. We also had a 
long talk with this French woman, she is very interesting and 
she told us a very great deal about France and the French 
people. Everybody in the village has three or four cows each 
which are taken to the public drinking fountain every morn¬ 
ing, noon and evening. Quite often one can see a cow get 
rather frisky and run kicking down the street followed by a 
French woman yelling frantically trying to head it off and 
get it back into the barn. It certainly would be torture for 
one of us to have to live in a village like this for the rest of 
our lives. 

March 27, 1918:—This morning Flossy (Lieut. Dunn) and 
I, along with the four gun sections, had some standing gun 
drill. Flossy and the gun sections had a ‘deuce’ of a time be¬ 
cause Flossy is new at the job. I laid the guns with the in- 
' strument and then played around while Flossy did his work. 
About 10:30 Flossy got tired so we stopped and I went in to 


60 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


my quarters. When I got to the front of our place I found 
[Leslie H.] Coleman standing at the side of an old farm wagon, 
very sick. I immediately took him up to our room, put him 
to bed and then went out after some milk for him. I got a 
bucket, went out to the fountain in the middle of the street 
and got a fine bucket of ice cold water. I then went up to 
my room where I took as much of a bath as I could in the 
cold water and then made the change to my clean clothes. I 
then got Roderich [French-Canadian interpreter] and we 
went out to see whether or not we could buy a chicken. We 
finally found an old woman who would sell us a chicken but 
we had to catch it first. After chasing it into a barn we 
caught it, paid the old woman fifteen francs for it and started 
back to our quarters. After we had shown it to our fellows 
(chickens are a prize here) we took it to the little French 
woman and she is going to have it baked for us by 7:00 this 
evening. We all went down to mess and drew our bread and 
then the six of us Pete [Clarence E.] Clift, Perry Lesh, [Sgt. 
William H.] Bruning, Edwin Bassett, Dick [Richard M.] Bos- 
son and I sat down to eat our chicken. When we started to 
eat, Sgt. Bosson told us that there was to be a competitive 
match between all of the batteries at 7:00: the object being 
to see which battery could harness and get away in the best 
time. We all sat there eating and hoping that the call would 
not come. The meal was a very good one. We had our 
chicken, potatoes, milk, bread, jam and champagne. The call 
finally came and we all got up with a jump, put on our gun 
belts and started out. [Edwin H.] Bassett went after the 
mules while the rest of us went for the fourgon. It was 
very exciting, all of the fellows were running around, harness¬ 
ing, yelling and trying to put on as much speed as possible. 
The sections were all reported ‘In order’ and the battery pulled 
out. B Battery was not even harnessed when our battery 
was on the way. It took our battery just eight minutes and 
fifty seconds to harness and pull out. We beat nearly all the 
rest of them by five minutes. We then took about a mile hike 
around a loop and back into the village. We then unharnessed 
and came in to our unfinished meal. This French woman 
surely treats us fine and she will give us anything that she 
has to eat. I did not stay long after I finished my meal but 
went up to my room and went to bed. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


61 


March 28, 1918:—This morning I stayed in with Lieut. 
Harrel and laid the guns for some standing gun drill. We 
received a little mail and I got only three letters. For even¬ 
ing mess we went down to our French woman’s where we had 
one dozen eggs, potatoes and all the milk we could drink. 
After retreat they issued us our overseas caps. 

March 29, 1918:—This morning right after mess Bruning 
and I along with Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter left Fontenoy 
for our old gun position. We took all of our equipment, the 
aiming circle, plotting board and many other little things. We 
arrived at the old gun position about 11:00, and immediately 
laid out the lines of fire and got things in readiness for the 
guns to pull in. It started to rain about 4:00 and by the time 
the guns pulled in which was at 9 :00 it was hailing, raining 
and very miserable. The French had taken our dug-outs and 
we had to chase them out. For evening mess we had nothing 
but hard tack and ‘corned willie’. All of us helped to pull 
each gun into position, laid them ready to fire and then we 
were finished for the day. It had certainly been a very miser¬ 
able job and we still had our horses to take care of. I ate 
a bite at the French marine kitchen and then went to bed 
good and tired. 

March 30, 1918:—This morning I packed my junk and 
started for the battery billets in Gelacourt. I arrived at the 
billets at about 11:00, put my horse away and immediately 
went to the detail quarters. I took a little nap during the 
afternoon and at 7:30 I made my bed with Carl Moorman. 
Communication has been established between the gun position 
and the billets. Bruning is now out at the guns. 

March 31, 1918:—Today being Easter they have at last 
given us a little freedom. The first thing after reveille this 
morning we signed the pay roll. Moorman and I then went 
in and straightened up our bunks. I then took a very good 
wash and shave, it was the first time I had a chance to clean 
up since we left Fontenoy. All morning I played around the 
billets, sewing a little and trying to get my clothes in good 
shape. After I had eaten my noon mess I went down to our 
Q.M. and drew my old boots. We had turned them in for 
shipment when we thought we were going to Rolampont. It 


62 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


is very rainy and miserable out of doors and no one goes out 
any more than they really have to. Our detail quarters are 
on the third floor of a bam which contains straw and old farm 
implements. There is also a sky-light in the roof over our 
quarters and whenever it rains very hard it just pours in. I 
think I will now write a few letters. At 3:00 we were mus¬ 
tered for pay and then we were marched to an open field near¬ 
by and [Charles] Julian Hoover was presented with the 
French Croix de Guerre. I then went to stables to see that 
the detail horses and mules were properly taken care of and 
then came in to mess. After mess I washed my shoes and 
went to bed very early. 

April 1, 1918:—This morning after standing reveille and 
eating mess I got my horse, filled my grain bag with feed and 
started for Menarmont. That is the little village where we 
first stopped after getting off the train at Ramblerville. I 
went directly to Fontenoy the little village we had just left 
and of course I stopped in to see the little French woman. 
She seemed to be very glad to see me and she also went out, 
got my horse into the barn out of the rain and gave him some 
hay. She then sat me down to a table and gave me a very 
good meal of fried eggs, a bowl of milk and some bread. She 
certainly has always treated me ‘white’. When I had finished 
my meal and left for Menarmont she came running after me 
after I had gotten nearly a square out of the village only to 
show me the right road. I thanked her as best I could and 
then continued on my way. As soon as I arrived in the village 
of Menarmont I looked up the place where I had stayed while 
in this village the first time. I found the place with no trouble 
at all. I immediately found the old woman who was visiting 
a neighbor and asked her if I could not look around in the 
loft of the barn for a ruler we had left there during our stay. 
Of course she was only too glad to help me out and she fol¬ 
lowed me up the ladder to the loft. I looked all over the place 
but had no luck so I thanked her very much and started back. 
I got back into Fontenoy about 11:00 and again stopped in 
the little French home. Nothing would do but that I stay for 
dinner so I took off my coat and sat down to the table. She 
first brought in some bread soup and then some soup meat 
and carrots which was the first course. This was followed 
by some sausage, three bowls of milk, some pickles and mus- 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


63 


tard which made up the second course. The third course was 
a little dessert consisting of cake, coffee and a little drink of 
whiskey. The old grandmother, the mother and the little girl 
drank their little glass of whiskey and when they found out 
that I did not drink they immediately forced upon me a very 
large glass of milk. I had given my horse his feed before I 
sat down to my dinner and it was but a short while before I 
started home. Before I left I gave the woman three packages 
of chewing gum I happened to have along, showed her what 
it was for by chewing a piece myself and then started for 
Gelacourt. When I arrived at our billets I took my horse to 
the public fountain where I gave him a drink and washed the 
mud from his feet and legs. It was a very wet and muddy 
trip. After I had gotten all of the mud washed off of him I 
took him to the blacksmith’s shop and had a shoe replaced 
that he had lost on the way. I then washed up and ate my 
mess. 

April 2, 1918:—We spent the morning shoveling mud away 
from the picket line and walking the horses so that they would 
get some exercise. Fact of the matter is, keep the men busy 
no matter how they feel or what the weather may be. All 
of the men came in from stables completely covered with mud. 
At the 11 o’clock stable formation I took the detail. It cer¬ 
tainly was a mess we had today—beef that you couldn’t even 
cut, gravy, coffee and sugar with not a sign of a piece of bread 
or hard-tack. We certainly have the dirtiest kitchen I have 
ever seen and the poorest food I have ever tasted. The men 
are so disgusted it’s a wonder the battery gets along at all. 
I know I am tired of it. (Gee but wasn’t I spreading the 
blues?) They are never satisfied seeing one sit down no mat¬ 
ter how worn out one may be. Our quarters are just out of 
the rain and that’s all. We have no place to dry clothes when 
we come in; no equipment. I have sewed the pair of pants I 
have on so many times I have now given up all hopes of sav¬ 
ing them. I will wear blue denims in two days more I sup¬ 
pose. 

April 3, 1918:—There was nothing much doing all morn¬ 
ing. During the afternoon I slept for awhile and about 5:00 
we had mess. After mess I met a French soldier who could 
talk German and the two of us had quite a lively chat. I 
went to bed about 7:30. 


64 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


April 4, 1918:—We received some mail this morning. I 
then went out to the guns and [Cpl. William H.] Bruning 
went in to the billets. Beside our regular duty here at the 
guns we are required to make a report at 11:50, 4:00, 6:00 
and 8:00 to the intelligence department concerning enemy ac¬ 
tivity around our battery position. A projector is being 
flashed during the night over to the rest of our battery and 
we are trying to locate it, fearing a spy. I have to sleep with 
all of my clothes on as the guard may see the projector and 
then I will have to go out after the spy. We get news from 
the French Communique every evening at 8:00, as they gen¬ 
erally put out the news from all of the fronts. Our own regi¬ 
mental wireless very often picks up German messages. These 
we also get over the phone at 8:10. Tonight the Germans say 
that the decisive moment is near but the French Communique 
says that the Germans are fighting with very heavy losses. 

April 5, 1918:—This morning just as I was getting up I 
heard the machine gun and the anti-aircraft guns popping 
away and I immediately went outside to see what was going 
on. I found that four German planes were over our front 
lines. It seemed like every foot of space was the place of a 
machine gun or an anti-aircraft gun because the air was just 
simply filled with anti-aircraft bursts. Our machine gun alone 
fired something over five hundred rounds. They did not bring 
any of the Germans down but they did chase them home. After 
breakfast I took my horse and delivered my twenty-four hour 
report to 1st Battalion Headquarters at Reherrey. During 
the late afternoon and evening after mess Cpl. [Leslie H.] 
Coleman and I put bells in all four of the dug-outs. These 
bells are alarm bells for night firing. I went to bed about 
8:30 in the top bunk. 

April 6, 1918:—When I got up this morning it was raining 
very hard. After breakfast I saddled up and took my report 
to battalion headquarters. After I came back I read a little. 
During the afternoon Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff and I re-checked 
the guns with the instrument. 

April 7, 1918:—This morning being Sunday morning the 
boys were allowed to sleep longer than usual. Last night some 
French batteries near us were firing and between shots we 
could hear the hum of German planes, probably trying to lo- 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


65 


cate the fire. We had a very good noon mess, mashed po- 
tates, steak, coffee, sugar, white bread and dates. I sat around 
all afternoon talking, reading and smoking. This evening 
after mess I read some Morning Stars and waited for the 
Communique to come in. 

April 8, 1918:—After I had eaten my breakfast I saddled 
up and took my report to Reherrey. While there I watched 
the butchering of a big white pig which reminded me of Bob 
[a pet white pig I once owned]. It was a very disgusting 
sight because they stuck the pig before they ever killed him. 
I then came back and read a little while. We did nothing but 
lie around all afternoon, made a little charcoal stove and slept 
a little while. 

April 9, 1918:—I got up this morning early and before I 
had even eaten my breakfast I took my report to Reherrey. 
During the afternoon some new clothes came in and I imme¬ 
diately went to our Q.M. where I drew a new pair of hip boots, 
two pair of wool sox, a suit of underwear, pair of pants, pair 
of French hob nail shoes and a pair of wrap puttees. We 
also received mail this evening and I received five boxes. 

April 10, 1918:—At 10:30 I went to stables and took charge 
of the spare line. After our mess I met Bill [William J.] 
Shine and we went to an old barn where they had some real 
American moving pictures. We watched the pictures for 
about an hour and then took a walk down to the end of the 
road where we met Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift. We stood talk¬ 
ing to him until 8:30 about the school he had been attending. 
He said that he thought the chances of being motorized were 
very poor. I then went to my billets where I got something 
to eat out of my box, or rather one of the boxes I received 
yesterday and then went to bed. 

April 11, 1918:—The day is a very pleasant one, the sun 
is shining very bright and it sure seems like “Sunny France.” 
The only trouble is that we only have “Sunny France” about 
three days out of the month. There are many planes up to¬ 
day. Directly after noon mess we got orders to fire so Sgt. 
Bruning, [Lt. Clarence E.] Trotter and the Captain [Sidney 
S. Miller] went up to the O.P. I stayed back to lay the guns. 
We fired on a German observation post and they say that we 


5—22902 


66 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


completely destroyed it. We fired about 150 rounds and fin¬ 
ished about 6:30. I then laid the guns back on Ypres No. 1 
(one of our targets from which we can easily transport fire). 

April 12, 1918:—After I had gotten all ready to go to 
Reherrey this morning we got an order that we were going 
to fire and of course I had to stay. We were to fire by aerial 
observation but they called up from the aviation field and said 
that it was too hazy and the aviator would not be able to do 
any observing. I sent Roy Hoesa to Battalion Headquarters 
with my report. We lay around all morning and at 12:30 
Sgt. [ William H.] Bruning, Cpl. [Perry W.] Lesh and Lieut. 
[Clarence E.] Trotter went up to J.B. 17 (an observation 
post) to observe a little firing that we were going to do. I 
stayed here at the guns, laid them off and at 1:30 we began 
to fire. We fired until 3:30 and then I laid the pieces back 
on Ypres No. 1. The mail came in about 10:30 and after 
I had read the three letters I had received I went to bed. 

April 13, 1918:—This morning after I had taken my report 
to Reherrey I took a good wash and shave and cleaned up as 
much as I could. After mess Bruning, Perry and I ran a 
traverse to locate the position of the guns they are going to 
shift. This little job took us until 4:00 and just as we had 
finished we saw a French plane directly over our position 
dropping torches, I don’t know what for but it looked very 
suspicious. We then put our instruments away and saddled 
up ready to start in to Gelacourt. On our way in we deliv¬ 
ered a message to Battalion Headquarters. When I got in 
and had put my horse away I ate my mess. I then went over 
to a French woman’s home and got some laundry she had 
done up for me. 

April 14, 1918:—This morning after watching the whole 
detail leave to string wire from Duval to the battery position 
I went up to the Y.M.C.A. to write some more letters. I 
was only there about five minutes when a call came in to me 
from the battery position. They were going to fire and I 
had to report at the guns. I immediately got my single mount 
and left for the guns. When I arrived at the guns I found 
that the order had been changed and we were not going to 
fire. We worked from noon on until 5:00 and then Bill Brun¬ 
ing and I started for Gelacourt. It rained pretty hard for 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


67 


an hour after we had gotten in and I heard it thunder for 
the first time since I have been in this country. 

April 15, 1918:—This morning when I got up it was still 
raining. The guard awakened us early and Bill [Bruning] 
and I started for the guns. The road out of Vaxainville was 
completely flooded and we had to wade through it with our 
horses. We arrived at the guns in time for breakfast. 
Bruning and Lieut. Trotter immediately left for the observa¬ 
tion post to stay there for forty-eight hours. The fourth piece 
fired all afternoon. Harassing fire at a ten minute interval. 
After evening mess I wrote some more letters. The boys have 
been trying to get the communication through to Duval all 
day but they do not seem to have had any luck. It has rained 
all day long. 

April 16, 1918:—I was sitting in the dug-out just after 
noon mess today and Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift came in and 
mentioned that he was going up to Duval during the after¬ 
noon but did not know the way. I happened to know about 
where it was so I told him that I would show him the way. 
At about 2:30 he and the Captain and I started. We tied 
our horses in the woods and walked up to the observatory. 
There we met [Lt. Clarence E.] Trotter and Bruning who 
had been up here for the past day and a half. We looked 
the German lines over and saw eleven Germans putting up 
telephone wire. We watched them for about an hour and then 
all of us went to the dug-out where we are going to stay dur¬ 
ing the nights we stay on the front. Duval is now out in ‘No 
Mans Land/ as the trenches in front of it are unoccupied now 
since the French have left. Fact of the matter is that last 
night the Captain of the infantry company near here thought 
that he heard a rat on the top of his dug-out. This morn¬ 
ing when he looked around he found that the Germans had 
slipped over and tapped in on his telephone line. So that is 
the kind of a place I will stay in during the next few nights. 
When I got in to the guns I fed my horse and ate my own 
mess and then started for our billets in Gelacourt. Believe 
me it was a dark ride back and from the top of the hill just 
outside of Vaxainville I could see the star shells falling far 
in front of me on the front. I had to return to the guns and 
arrived there at about 9:00. I immediately put my horse away 
and went to bed. 


68 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


April 17, 1918:—This morning I got up early, had my 
breakfast and then rolled my blanket roll. I then sat down 
to wait for Perry [Lesh] to relieve me here at the guns. He 
came about 9:00 and I immediately left for Duval. Saw 
quite a few Germans putting up telephone wire, they stayed 
right out in the open for about one hour and were not molested 
in the least. We also saw a German battery blaze away and 
from the flash we were able to locate accurately the place from 
which much of our trouble had been coming. We also saw 
quite a few Germans on horse-back coming toward the front. 
All this we saw with the aid of our big glasses. Early in the 
afternoon Mike Brickel and Edwin H. Bassett came out to 
relieve Pete Clift and [Latham W.] Connell on the telephone. 
During the later part of the afternoon Bassett and I went out 
to find a thrill. We entered the front line trenches and fol¬ 
lowed them out into ‘No Man’s Land’ and all of the barbed 
wire entanglements. Several times while trying to see some¬ 
thing we had to duck from some stray rifle and machine gun 
bullets. There was not a bit of noise out there and only once 
in a while could we hear an occasional machine volley or rifle 
shot. After playing around out in the deserted land about 
an hour we wound our way back to the observation post, where 
we found Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift ready and waiting to quit 
for the day. 

April 18, 1918:—I stood guard from daylight until 12:00 
last evening. The two telephone men stood the guard dur¬ 
ing the rest of the night. We did not get up until 9 :00 and 
after eating just a little we all went up to the O.P. I used 
the glasses until noon and my eyes got very tired so Lieut. 
Clift took the glasses and watched until 3:00. At 3:00 we 
got a call from the battery and they gave us permission to 
fire eight rounds. We fired on a German position where we 
had seen a guard walking nearly all of the time since we have 
been up here. We sure made him fly to his dug-out. After 
that little bit of excitement I went out in the grass and slept 
for awhile. We went back to the dug-out pretty early and 
I cooked beans and bacon for our evening meal. I cannot 
say that this work is so very exciting but it is very interest¬ 
ing. After we had eaten our scant meal and talked for awhile 
[Edwin H.] Bassett and I started out to find some more 
thrills. We started out to the left of our shack down through 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


69 


the woods where we had heard rifle and machine gun fire. 
We went along very cautiously marking our way as we went 
because the woods are very thick and it is very easy to get 
lost in this place. We found a board walk far down in the 
woods and were walking along unconcerned when suddenly 
we hear a rifle crack and a bullet whizzed over our heads. 
We immediately dropped to our knees and waited for about 
ten minutes but we heard no more shots and finally we started 
on. We finally arrived at an abandoned outpost where we 
stayed for nearly ten minutes looking around and on seeing 
nothing unusual we turned and started back. On our way 
back Bassett found an old trench leading out into ‘No Man’s 
Land’ and we decided to follow it out to the end. We walked 
for a very long way in a stooped position and every time we 
wished to look we would stop and raise our heads very slowly 
over the edge of the trench. When we got to the end of the 
trench we were within a stone’s throw of the German trenches 
and of course we were very quiet. We only had our pistols 
with seven rounds of ammunition so we did not linger long. 
I took the lead going back, and we went a new way and of 
course we had to be very careful because we did not know 
just where our path would lead us. We had not gone far 
when I saw a French infantry man, rifle in hand walking in 
a stooped position as though he was looking for something. 
I decided to follow him as he had not seen me. He went for 
quite a ways and I could not figure him out. His actions 
were very peculiar. It was getting dark very fast and I could 
not follow him any longer because I had to get back to the 
dug-out before dark or I would surely be lost for the night. 
One must not be out around here at night without the pass 
word and I do not know what it is. There is a very grave 
danger of one being shot even by one’s own men because our 
American boys are pretty new at this work and they take no 
chances at all. The thing that is best for one is to have the 
pass word at tongue’s end when challenged. While I was 
hunting my way back darkness fell even before I realized that 
I did not know my way or where I was. Cold beads of perspi¬ 
ration soon stood out on my forehead and I tried to retrace 
my steps. I was lost and in for it, and in the first line 
trenches. Three different times when I thought sure I had 
found the right way I ran into barbed wire entanglements 
and had to turn back. I carried my pistol in my hand, ham- 


70 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


mer back but on safety all of the time. Finally I ran into 
some telephone wires and I took hold of them as they were 
not hung high in the trees, and followed them. I did not 
know where they led but I followed them. Fortunately they 
were the wires that led to our dug-out and when I came up 

to the dug-out Lieut. - Stevens who had relieved 

Lieut. Clift out here this morning looked at me with awe. I 
was red as a beet and perspiration was running off my face. 
Believe me I sat down and took a good smoke. 

April 19, 1918:—We got up about 9:30 and after eating 
breakfast Lieut. Stevens and I went up to the O.P. I showed 
Lieut. Stevens all of the points that we had located along the 
German front lines and I stayed with him until noon. The 
Germans have surely located Duval because they have dropped 
several H.E. shells quite near this place. Right now I have 
to stay inside the entrance to the O.P. because German anti¬ 
aircraft shells are bursting directly over our heads and there 
is danger of one being hit by falling fragments. I arrived at 
Gelacourt about 6:30, put my horse away and went to bed. 

April 20, 1918:—I slept until 9:00 this morning, and then 
played around until noon as there was nothing much to be 
done. At noon we had a very good warm dinner and it sure 
went well. Directly after noon mess I went up to Cpl. [John 
M.] Skidmore’s machine gun room and listened to the Illinois 
band play. They can sure put on some real music. I stayed 
with Skidmore until about 4:45 and then went down to bat¬ 
tery mess. Just after mess we received our pay and then Sgt. 
[Richard M.] Bosson, Pete Clift and I went to a French wo¬ 
man’s house where we had a meal of fried eggs, fried potatoes 
and milk. 

April 21, 1918:—This morning after I had gotten the nec¬ 
essary junk together I saddled my horse and started out to 
the guns. I arrived at the guns about 9:00, put my horse 
down in the barn, and then came up to the telephone dug-out. 
There was nothing much to do all day long. I cleaned up 
the dug-out, wrote some letters and smoked all during the day. 
The day has been a very pretty one and from the top of the 
hill just in front of our battery one can see the white snow 
capped mountains over in Germany. I received quite a few 
letters today and after I had read them I went to bed. 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


71 


April 22, 1918:—This morning after I had eaten my break¬ 
fast I did some work for Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff; copying re¬ 
ports on ammunition, etc. I then went back up to the tele¬ 
phone dug-out where I cleaned my shoes and swept the tele¬ 
phone dug-out so that it would at least feel a little clean. 
Fleming Lynch came out with rations for the battery about 
6:30 and we sent him down to 1st Battalion Headquarters 
after the mail. When he came back he brought the mail to 
the telephone dug-out where Pete Clift, [Farrell E.] Potter 
and I sorted it and gave it out to the different chiefs of sec¬ 
tions. I received a box from my mother containing some small 
cakes and a large cake from Mrs. Anna Roeder. After I 
had opened my box and eaten some cake I went to bed. 

April 23, 1918:—The second platoon has been moved to an 
old naval position not far from here. They are now moving 
the second piece of the first platoon into the old place of the 
third piece of the second platoon. I took the aiming circle 
and laid the newly moved piece on a line of fire 1000. Lieut. 
[Clarence E.] Trotter is now commanding our battery and 
Capt. [Sidney S.] Miller is acting Major of the 1st Battalion. 
We saw only a few Germans during the afternoon and the 
general belief is that there are only a few Germans over there. 
We only stayed at the O.P. until about 4:00 and then went 
back to the dug-out to cook our supper. Just before dark this 
evening we found a communicating trench which leads into 
our dug-out, so we have made our emergency plans accord¬ 
ingly. If we should happen to be surprised by Germans we 
have planned that two of the men should break through the 
tar-paper wall, and thus gain the outside. The other men 
were to stumble up the steps giving time to the two men who 
had taken the outer passage. Of course we had planned to 
use our pistols freely. 

April 24, 1918:—This morning after eating my breakfast 
which was only a bacon sandwich—Lamkin and I started for 
the O.P. We had walked only about 100 feet through the 
underground passage when we came to a light place in the 
roof. I happened to be looking at the floor and saw a very 
bloody first-aid bandage lying there. We immediately drew 
our guns as there was danger of Boche being hidden in the 
O.P. There proved to be no one there and we put our instru- 


72 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


ments up for the day’s observation. A little later on Lieut. 

-Vallandingham came up. Visibility was very poor 

and it was pretty cool inside the observation post. We also 
found out that the bloody bandage was taken off an American 
Sergeant who had been shot while passing this open place 
with a light. He had been shot through the chest and was 
killed probably by a German sniper. About 4:30 I went 
back to Duval; the drizzle had stopped and visibility was fine 
until about 4:30. The Lieutenant and the boys are all sleep¬ 
ing and I am standing a guard until 12:00. Our communi¬ 
cation has been tampered with or either the wet weather has 
put our wires on the ‘bum’ because I can not make the drop 
on the switch board as the guns fall or they cannot make any 
phone buzz when they ring me. At 9:05 I tried the phone 
and we both happened to get on the phone at the same time 
so we decided that we would listen on the half hour. The 
rest of the night went along as usual, but for a good barrage. 

April 25, 1918:—The barrage started at 9:30 last night 
and lasted until 10:45. It was put on by the French and 
Americans. It certainly was a wonderful sight. I went 
outside the dug-out and the star shells fell all around. I could 
hear the continual whizz and whistle of the shells as they 
passed over my head. I could also hear the bang of German 
shells as they burst on allied territory. The sky was simply 
one big light; sometimes as if set on fire and at other times 
streaked with long yellow tongues of flame from the mouths 
of both our guns and the German guns. Machine guns kept 
up a continual chatter. During lulls in the barrage rifle and 
machine gun and hand grenades could be heard. Green star 
shells a signal for gas were sent up by the Germans as a bluff 
and of course all of our gas alarms added to the noise. It was 
the first good barrage I had ever heard and it certainly was 
a sight to be remembered. After all the noise had died down 
the boys went back to bed because they were all up watching 
it. This morning when we got up we heard that the Alabama 
infantry had gone over the top but thus far we have not heard 
the results. At 10:30 [Carl] Moorman and [Claude] Moul- 
den came up to relieve the other two telephone men. At 
noon we went back to the dug-out and fried our usual dinner 
of bacon and ‘spuds’. We spent the afternoon watching gas 
shells fall and burst in the diamond shaped woods around 



A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


73 


Chateau-de-St.-Marie [on the German side]. We had never 
been able to discern any activity in this woods before but 
when these gas shells started bursting in the woods they could 
be seen running out in all directions. 

April 26, 1918:—This morning I got up in time for reveille 
and the first thing I had a scrap with Sgt. [Richard M.] Bos- 
son because I was not standing enough formations to suit 
him. After noon I then procured a pass to Baccarat much to 
Sgt. Bosson’s displeasure. Cpl. [Leslie H.] Coleman and I 
then caught a truck going to Baccarat. We played around 
in Baccarat until about 4:00 and then caught a truck and 
started back. 

April 27, 1918:—After breakfast I saddled my horse and 
went out to the guns. Sgt. Bruning and Sgt. [Richard M.] 
Bosson went to Ancerville this morning to look over the 
ground. I stayed at the guns and cleaned up glasses, maps, 
boards and things that we had been using up at Duval. Dur¬ 
ing the day I wrote eleven letters. While we were at even¬ 
ing mess a German plane came directly over our gun position, 
it was very low and we could see the pilot very easy. Ma¬ 
chine guns and anti-aircraft guns fired on him, but all to no 
avail. During the evening I had a long talk with a French 
Sergeant who speaks very good English. He was a college 
man from the University of Paris and of course had many 
interesting things to tell about his three years in the war. 
Last night we got a great deal of ammunition in and today 
we are to receive eighteen more truck loads. I went to bed 
about 10:30. 

April 28, 1918:—There was nothing much to do all day and 
so I spent most of my time reading. I am now taking a 
telephone shift because the boys are pretty tired. It has been 
raining all day and is very miserable. 

April 29, 1918:—This morning when I got up it was a lit¬ 
tle more pleasant, the sun was trying to shine a little and 
the air had the smell of spring in it. When I arrived in 
Gelacourt I took my horse to our picket line which is in an 
old orchard. I stayed there until all of the horses had been 
watered and fed. After mess I re-arranged my bunk as we 
are all doubling up because the village is now full of French 
soldiers and we have to make room for them. There is a 


74 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


large amount of ammunition coming in for the guns and the 
‘snow’ is that in a few days a big offensive will start. When 
that is over we are to move off the front. The picket line is 
so full of mud that the boys have to hold on to the little apple 
trees to pull themselves out. Many times we see one of the 
fellows emerge with only one boot on. 

April 30, 1918:—I got up in time for reveille this morn¬ 
ing and went down to stables with the battery. We came in 
to breakfast and had only about one half hour of freedom 
and then went back to stables where we stayed until 11:00. 
We had a very poor noon mess and the afternoon was just 
like the morning, we had no more than gotten our mess eaten 
when the call came for us to go back down to stables. We 
have over two hundred horses to take care of now and the 
picket line is so muddy that the horses can not be kept clean 
for even one night. It has been raining for the past few 
days and of course that makes things all the more miser¬ 
able. If this army isn’t disgusting nothing ever was. 

May 1, 1918:—I received a call at 11:00 to report to the 
guns immediately. When the men came back with the horses 
I saddled my single mount and went out to the guns. I then 
took the aiming circle and started for Duval. At 1:15 a bar¬ 
rage started which lasted until 5:15. The entrance to Duval 
had been caved in and we had to observe from the trees di¬ 
rectly behind the observation post. All of the batteries along 
our front were firing and many battle and observation planes 
were up. We could see practically every one of our bursts 
from where we were and we sure tore up the German front 
lines. Bruning, Bosson and I then took our horses and went 
down behind T6 observation post. From there we established 
a line for projector signaling to the battery. This was to be 
used in case our communication was broken during this three 
day barrage we were supposed to put on. While we were 
laying this line off the Germans started to shell a battery 
position about three hundred meters from where we were and 
very close to where we had tied our horses. Naturally we 
had to stop and get the horses out of the way. The shelling 
got so bad that we had to stop our work and get away from 
that place. Our barrage has probably taken the Germans by 
surprise and they are now putting on some retaliation fire. 
There are many new batteries in place again, the big French 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


75 


naval guns are again in position and many batteries of 75s, 
90s, 105s and eight inch howitzers are getting ready for ac¬ 
tion. It seems as though all of the roads and valleys are 
simply filled with batteries. 

May 2, 1918:—This morning we saw two pretty fair air 
battles. All of the detail men got up before reveille because 
they are all practicing the projector signal “Cease Firing”. 
This work is very much easier while it is still a little dark 
because the lights of the projectors can be seen very much 
easier at night. This one particular signal must be perfect 
because our batteries must stop firing at a given time so that 
the infantry can make its advance without running into our 
own barrage. I went out to the guns to relieve Perry [Lesh]. 
All batteries around our place have been firing for a good 
while. The dope just came down to us that the church tower 
at Domevre is completely gone and half of the town is torn 
down. I spent nearly the whole morning reading 0. Henry 
as there was nothing much for me to do. The noise was a 
little annoying but it was not enough to stop me from read¬ 
ing. At noon I went down to mess and then I came back to 
the telephone dug-out and read some more. At 9:00 we re¬ 
ceived orders to fire fifty rounds of gas shells so I went outside 
to watch them. I stayed outside until the fifty rounds had 
been fired. The gun crews had been in bed for nearly an 
hour and since it was so warm they came out and fired their 
pieces with hardly any of their clothes on. All together today 
we have fired 1500 rounds of H.E. and 50 rounds of gas. The 
three telephone men are all in bed and I am going to read 
some more O. Henry. 

May 8, 1918:—After washing, and eating breakfast this 
morning I crawled back in bed because I stayed up until 12:00 
last night. There was absolutely nothing doing all morning. 
Mail came in about 7:00 and I received two letters. I read 
them and then went to bed. 

May 4, 1918:—Last night about 11:00 we had a gas alarm 
and when it came we all piled out. I was in an upper bunk 
the third one up from the floor and I could see nothing to 
step on to get out of my bunk but John U. Bosson’s head, so 
I stepped out on his head. I lit on the floor, knocked the stove 
over and made all the speed possible after my gas mask. I 



76 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


finally found it and after much trouble got it on. We all sat 
around for about ten minutes with our gas masks on and then 
found out that it was a false alarm, so back to bed we went. 
I got up about 7:00 this morning and practically all I have 
done all day is smoke, sleep and take powder temperatures. 

May 5, 1918:—It has been rainy and very miserable all day 
long, I have smoked so much that I am dizzy and everybody 
seems to be singing the blues. I think I will stand a tele¬ 
phone shift until 11:00 and then go to bed. 

May 6, 1918:—This morning I got up in time for break¬ 
fast and then went back to bed. Perry [Lesh] came out 
about 11:00 to relieve me so I rolled my blanket roll and got 
ready to leave. About 11:00 German shells began to fall so 
Alger Budd and I went up to the crest of the hill to watch 
them burst. Fragments lit rather close to us so we had to 
lie down to avoid danger. Shells lit on the road all around 
the battery and the boys had to stay in their dug-outs for 
quite a while. After the shelling had ceased we went back 
to the guns where we ate noon mess. By the time we had 
finished our mess the shelling had ceased all together so we 
went up to see the holes they had been making. They tore 
up a very great deal of our telephone wire, tore down some 
trees and made holes ranging from six to eight feet in diam¬ 
eter and from three to five feet deep. We got back to the 
guns about 2:80 and I immediately left for Gelacourt. On 
my way back I stopped at 1st Battalion Headquarters and 
made a report on the shelling. I did not arrive in Gelacourt 
until time to stand retreat. 

May 7, 1918:—About 6:45 ‘Pug’ [Rogers H.] George, 
[Latham W.] Connell, Sgt. [Bryant W.] Gillespie and I 
started for Duval. We arrived there about 9:80 tied our 
horses at the dug-out where we used to stay when we were 
running shifts at Duval and walked the rest of the way up 
to the observation post. We heard something that sounded 
like a tractor or a trench digger far over in the German lines 
but we could not see a thing. At noon Sgt. [Bryant W.] 
Gillespie and I went down to the N.Y. infantry kitchen told 
them we were from the 150th Machine Battalion and asked 
for food enough for four men. They gave us two cans full 
of food and we carried it up to ‘Pug’ [Rogers H. George] 
and [Latham W.] Connell. During the afternoon we were 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


77 


surprised at seeing a man in French uniform coming directly 
toward us out of ‘No Man’s Land’. He passed within ten feet 
of us and we all thought that he looked suspicious but we said 
nothing to him. Later on we found out that he was being 
looked for by our authorities. During the latter part of the 
afternoon three German shells fell within about 500 feet of 
us but did no particular damage. Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trot¬ 
ter fired two rounds at the tree where we always saw the 
guard walking but I lost the bursts. I found the second two 
that he fired but when I went to report to him I found that 
our communication had been cut. ‘Pug’ George immediately 
started to run the line and by 5:30 he had not returned, so 
we packed our junk took ‘Pug’s’ horse and started in, follow¬ 
ing the line all of the way so as to meet ‘Pug’ on the way. 
When we had passed Migneyville we tapped on our wire and 
found that ‘Pug’ had not gotten in yet; a big storm was com¬ 
ing up and the wind was blowing very hard. [Latham W.] 
Connell took a phone and started back toward Duval. When 
we got to the guns we found that ‘Pug’ had called in, Connell 
had met him and they were both on their way in to the guns. 
I then went down into the officer’s dug-out and told Lieut. 
Trotter what his shots had done (they were to the right and 
over) what I had seen and heard during the day. I then 
went back to the telephone dug-out and gave Perry [Lesh] 
my report to send in to Lieut. - Stanton the intelli¬ 

gence officer at Bn. Hdqs. I then started toward Gelacourt 
and caught ‘Pug’ and Connell just outside of Vaxainville as 
they had started on ahead of me. We had not gone very far 
before it started to rain and before we got in to Gelacourt we 
were wet to the skin. We watered our horses at Brouville, 
came on in, fed, and tied our horses on the line, carried our 
saddles to our quarters and then got a little something to eat. 
I went to bed about 9:30. 

May 8, 1918:—This morning five of we detail men slept 
through reveille and Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift came in and 
routed us out. We were off duty until 11:00, when we went 
down and fed our horses. We ate our noon mess and then 
prepared for an inspection of bunks which we had at 2:00. 
We came in from stables at 4:30 and had evening mess at 
5:00, after which we stood retreat. [Leslie H.] Coleman, 
Bruning and I then played around with a French periscope 
for awhile. 



CHAPTER V 
Up With the Guns 

May 9, 1918:—Today there was not much doing. After 
mess I saddled up my horse and went to Baccarat where I 
played around and bought a few things that I needed. While 
there I ran into A1 [Albert R.] Brunner, Earl Pitsenburger 

and - Casey, and we all took a walk down to the 

Y.M.C.A. We then started in towards Gelacourt but on the 
way in found a good hotel where we stopped and had some 
fried eggs and potato salad for our evening meal. I was tired 
after my afternoon off and went to bed. 

May 10, 1918:—This morning early I saddled my horse and 
went out to the guns to relieve Perry [Lesh]. When I got 
out there Perry went directly to Duval. I wrote letters until 
noon mess time and only took time enough to eat, and that’s 
all, because there were a great number of letters remaining 
for me to answer. During the afternoon I only went out¬ 
side the telephone dug-out a few times and then only to get 
a breath of good fresh air and smoke a cigarette. At 5:00 
I went down to evening mess and after took a walk down to 
Reherrey to have a talk with the intelligence officer about 
different reports. 

May 11, 1918:—I slept and played around all day long. 
About 3:00 this afternoon a Boche plane came over while I 
was up at the machine gun emplacement so I fired 24 rounds 
at him. [Leo A.] Biddle, the machine gun man then took 
the gun and fired quite a few more rounds at him. He was 
hit by anti-aircraft shells and his motor stopped but he glided 
over behind his own lines. They are issuing some clothes 
out here at the guns this evening. It happened that I could 
get nothing but a pair of gloves as there was nothing but 
gloves that wmuld fit me. When I got back into the telephone 
dug-out I overheard a conversation between the officers about 
Ed Bassett. I immediately told Ed to see Lieut. [Clarence E.] 
Trotter and as a result he is transferred to the aviation leav¬ 
ing immediately. We also fired thirty rounds this evening. 
I am now standing a telephone shift for the fellows, and as 
a pastime writing some more letters. 


( 78 ) 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


79 


May 12, 1918:—Today is the day set aside by General 
Pershing as Mother’s Day. Every fellow has been urged to 
write home, I will venture to say that 90 % of them have done 
it. It is very cold and rainy today. A little mail came in 
and I received four letters. I immediately sat down and 
wrote answers to all of them. I am now standing a telephone 
shift for the boys and I will stay up until about 11:00. 

May 18, 1918:—Perry [Lesh] and I changed places this 
morning. We have made a new observation post just behind 
the old one because Duval is so caved in and is now such a 
death trap that we do not use it any more. Our new one is 
up in the trees directly behind the entrance to the old Duval. 
This O.P. is a very good one and we can see from the left 
of Domevre far over to the right of Blamont. It is all camou¬ 
flaged with branches of trees so that we can not be seen. 
These branches are changed every morning so that the place 
remains as near the color of the surrounding trees as is pos¬ 
sible to make it. The weather in this country has gotten to 
be a joke; in the morning it clouds up and probably rains 
and there is never a night passes but what it is as fair as one 
could wish to have it. 

May 14, 1918:—This morning [Russell H.] Lamkin and 
[Carl] Moorman went with me to Duval. We got up there 
about 9:00 and immediately put up the scissor glasses. Vis¬ 
ibility was very good. During the morning we saw a great 
deal of activity, but at noon it started to rain and of course 
from then on we could see very little. During the early part 
of the afternoon the Captain [Sidney S. Miller, still as Major 
of the first Bat.] and the Colonel came up to see our new 
O.P. They stayed about twenty minutes during which time 
they asked very many questions about the territory in front 
of Duval. They had only been gone about 15 minutes when 
it stopped raining and the sun came out, we could then see 
very fine. I was able to pick up a working party directly 
behind the Chateau de St. Marie but we could not fire on them 
as they were very far out of our range. About 2:00 I saw 
13 men coming toward Verdenal (a little village out in ‘No 
Man’s Land’) and I immediately phoned their position in to 
the battery. Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter told me that if I 
saw any more of them there that I should let him know and 
he would let me have eight rounds to fire on them. At 3:30 


80 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


I saw six more in the very same place. I immediately phoned 
in and Lieut. Trotter started the eight rounds over. We 
could hear our guns go off and a few seconds after we could 
hear the projectile going over our heads. The first shot must 
have been a freak because it burst about 300 feet in the air 
directly over my target. The second was over and to the 
left in some barbed wire entanglements. The third shot was 
nearly a target and the Germans began to run from the hedge 
at the side of the road where they had taken shelter. They 
ran in all directions and for fifteen minutes after our fire had 
been completed we could see them still running away from 
this place. I don’t know whether I got any of them or not, 
I sure hope so. During the rest of the afternoon we saw 
smoke coming from a building in Under-Champs and also from 
a building in Verdenal. I should say that the day was a 
very exciting one, there was quite a little activity and the 
day was a very pleasant one. The French also put eighty 
shells on Ouve Rouge and I could see all of them burst. Ger¬ 
man and French observation balloons were up practically all 
day long. When we come up here to Duval we always have 
bacon sandwiches for our noon meal and that is the only 
thing that is getting very tiresome. We left Duval at 4:45 
and came right in to the guns. When we arrived there we 
found the third piece had been fired with a hammer in the 
cradle and that the recoil system had been badly damaged. 
That was the cause of the first shot this afternoon bursting 
in the air. Two of our pieces have been taken to Luneville 
for repairs. The second piece went yesterday with the bore 
very badly pitted, so we are left with only two pieces. We 
ate our evening meal at the guns. The rest of the detail 
has worked all day long here at the guns putting in electric 
light aiming posts. I gave my activity report to Perry 
[Lesh], talked the situation over with Lieut. [Clarence E.] 
Trotter and then started for Gelacourt. I also found out that 
they are getting ready to leave for somewhere, maybe home 
and maybe the Somme front, one can never tell in this army. 
I hope home. After I had put my horse away I went up and 
talked the day over with Sgt. Bruning, then went to my quar¬ 
ters where I wrote up my diary and then I went to bed. 

May 15, 1918:—This morning when we got up for reveille 
one of our fellows was thrown in the water trough because 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


81 


he did not get up in time to make the call. John U. Bosson 
was in Baccarat today and he got the pictures I had taken 
the last time I was in there, so tomorrow I will send them 
home. After evening mess [Carl] Moorman helped me to 
put a design on an empty brass powder shell that I am going 
to pound out and make a brass vase out of. 

May 16, 1918:—This morning early I saddled up and went 
out to the guns. [William H.] Bruning and [Perry W.] Lesh 
went up to the O.P., and from the reports they have been 
sending in they have not been seeing very much. The weather 
is very good today, in fact it is very warm. I do not re¬ 
member whether or not I mentioned the fact that Sgt. [John 
H.] Skidmore and Sgt. Karl Moore tried to find us one day 
when we were up at the O.P. and when we saw them they 
were about 400 yards out in ‘No Man’s Land’ directly in front 
of our O.P. It is a miracle that they were not shot. The 
‘snow’ about going home is thicker than ever. Some of the 
fellows though are quite firm in their belief that we are going 
to the Somme front. Fire has now started with aerial obser¬ 
vation. There are three planes observing for us, and as the 
observer sends down the commands we can see the sparks 
fly from his wireless. The observer’s message is received at 
Bn. Hdqs. and is sent down to the battery by phone. Our food 
here at the battery has been fairly good but most of the fel¬ 
lows do not care for it because there is no variety. Break¬ 
fast usually consists of the old standard, bacon, potatoes and 
coffee and sometimes sugar. I usually draw my coffee to 
wash my mess kit with because it is always good and hot and 
the mess water is always very greasy and nearly always cold. 
The Y.M.C.A. seems to be doing very much better work now. 
There are always two medical men here at the guns in case 
someone gets hurt. [Charles J.] Hoover is again back with 
the battery and I am sure glad because he is the best cook 
we ever had. I hear too that we have fifty more horses com¬ 
ing in; on the other hand I hear that we are going to be motor¬ 
ized very soon. The battery fired until about 6:30 and then 
we all went down to mess. 

May 17, 1918:—This morning Pete [Clarence E.] Clift and 
I went to the telephone dug-out where we lay around until 
about 10:30 when our telephone line to Duval went out due to 


6—22902 


82 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


shell fire, so Pete and I started out to repair it. We could 
hear where the shells were bursting and so figured out just 
about where the line was broken. I timed the interval be¬ 
tween the bursts of the German shells and we picked the 
way to the break in the line accordingly. The shells were 
coming at a five minute interval. In order to get to the break 
in the line we were obliged to pass the corner of the cross 
roads near a little group of fir trees where all of these shells 
were bursting. The shells came fro ma battery of eight-inch 
howitzers very close to our front lines and every time the 
gun would fire we could hear the report and also hear the shell 
coming. Being able to hear the report of the gun and hav¬ 
ing the interval so well timed we ventured very close to where 
they were bursting. Quite a few times we flattened ourselves 
against the ground to avoid any danger of being caught by 
an over or a short. I had my vest-pocket kodak along and 
every time a shell would come over I would stand up and try 
to get a picture but they all sounded so close that I did not 
take a chance and consequently got no picture that was worth 
while. Pete [Clarence E. Clift] and I then debated as to 
what we would do next. We decided to start directly after 
the next shell burst and make a run past the fir trees, then 
to the break in the line. So we waited for the next shell to 
burst and then started to run; we got within about twenty 
feet of the fir trees and the Germans must have changed the 
time interval because we heard the gun fire and also heard 
the shell coming. We did not know what to do and of course 
we did not have time to debate the question. We simply ran 
back about thirty feet and lay down at the side of the road. 
We could hear the shell coming and as it got closer and closer 
of course the sound became more shrill. It was a very excit¬ 
ing few moments for us but it finally burst and only within 
about thirty feet of us. While I was lying at the side of the 
road waiting for the shell to light, my only wish was that the 
shell would not hit me right in the middle of the back. When 
it burst it threw dirt and pieces of wood all over us and for 
fully a half minute after debris fell all around us. I noticed 
too that all up and down the road as far as I could see the 
dust was raised about one foot in the air. As soon as it 
had burst and we knew that we were out of danger I opened 
my kodak, ran up close to the place where the shell had lit 



n 

Oft 

X ,rf - 
? o > 
■§ "■. 
^ to 

ft ft o 

< *-i S 
' fD 

^ w 
*u tr 


<d 


3* c+ 

O ft) 

? ~td 
crq 'z: p 

23 t—- ffi 

£ S ^ 

n 

&* ^ 

^ ft) o 


HH 


fD 


3* 

ft) 


. o 

31 co 

• o 

r/5 P ?r 

>-s cl .. 
P _s. 
C J+w 

rV 03 !-;• 

. fD 3 

Hr* Hb 

3. w 

ST ® 

ft i-y 

3 3 


CO 

c+ 

O 

o 

CL 


3* 

fD 

3“ 

O 
►—■* 

a> 


2 3. 

S w 

,. CO 

O % 
fD _ 

rt- CC 

p 

3 a" 
P P 

fD CO 
. <rt- 


3 

<*3 


















A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


83 


and snapped a picture of it. We then ran on past the little 
group of fir trees and out into the field. Not far from where 
these shells had been falling we found the break in our line 
and we immediately began to repair it. We had only started 
to work when we heard the gun and another shell started on 
its way over. We found a very shallow ditch close by and in 
it we stretched out as flat as we possibly could until the shell 
went by and had burst in the little group of firs. In all, six 
of them came over before we got the break in the line re¬ 
paired. They then stopped firing and we went back to the 
place to see just what damage they had done. I also took a 
picture of the holes that these shells had made. So far that 
is as close as they have ever come to me, and when I think it 
over it was as close as I ever hope one comes to me. We then 
went back to the guns where we ate our noon mess after which 
I lay down and slept nearly the whole afternoon. Directly 
after evening mess Sgt. [Bryant W.] Gillespie and I had a 
long talk about our girls and the people at home. Sgt. 
Bruning and [Perry W.] Lesh came back from Duval early 
because in the morning at 3:00, the three of us are going up 
in the large woods near Duval and build a new O.P. way up 
in a tree. We have to do it early, before visibility gets good 
so that we will not been seen by the Germans. It is now 
10:15 and I am going to bed. 

May 18, 1918:—This morning at 3:00 I got up and had no 
more than gotten my clothes on when we had a gas alarm, 
but it was false. Bruning, Lesh and I then started up to make 
the new O.P. We worked all morning and now have an O.P. 
that will take in anything our glasses will reach. It is sure 
a wonder; in a big oak tree fully seventy feet above the 
ground. It is an easy place for German snipers to pick some¬ 
one off, but it is a much better place from which we can 
observe German activity. We had no breakfast; at 10:00 
[George A.] Aurine came up as telephone operator. I started 
in at 1:00 and just as I was leaving Sgt. [Karl F.] Moore 
came up to look around. Our telephone line went out and so 
Aurine and the rest of the men went out to find the trouble. 
When I got back to the battery I got a bowl of cold tomatoes, 
salt, pepper and a piece of bread. I then went back up to the 
telephone dug-out got a powder temperature for the officers and 
then went to bed. I slept until 5:00 when the boys awakened 


84 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


me and I went down to evening mess. We got some second 
class mail after mess “Stars” [Indianapolis Stars,] and other 
papers from the people at home. Tomorrow Perry [Lesh] 
relieves me here at the guns and I go up to the O.P. The 
weather is very pleasant, very warm and far better than the 
rain that we have been having. 

May 19, 1918:—I went up to the O.P. alone this morning. 
I took a phone and the head of the scope along. We have to 
pull all of our stuff up in the tree with a wire and I had just 
gotten all of this done when Bruning, Cpl. [Chester] Lumpkin 
and ‘Spick’ [John C.] Ellis came up to look around. ‘Spick’ 
and I stayed up on the platform all morning, Bruning and 
Lumpkin took a walk down through the first line trenches. 

May 20, 1918:—This morning I again went to the O.P. 
alone and later [Carl] Moorman came up as the telephone 
operator for the day. We played around the tree all day long 
and during the afternoon I found a new O.P. in the trees 
far over in the German lines but before I could locate it ac¬ 
curately the leaves had blown in front of it and I could not 
pick it up any more during the afternoon. The Germans had 
probably camouflaged it very well for I hunted the rest of the 
day and could not find it. A little later we saw four propa¬ 
ganda balloons coming over from the German lines and of 
course [Carl] Moorman went after one of them. He did not 
get one of the balloons as some French soldiers beat him to 
them but he did bring back some of the literature that these 
balloons carried over. This literature tends to discourage 
the French soldier. The instrument detail is now staying out 
here at the guns and I am staying in a room with Jimmy 
[James V.] Fox. We also have our horses out here at the guns. 
After mess Jimmy and I did some work on our room and we 
are sure getting it so that it looks like a real place. The start 
of my diary has been lost for about a week and I have been 
hunting all over for it but have been unable to find it. I have 
been keeping rough notes in hopes that I will find it again. 

May 21, 1918:—During the day I again found and accurate¬ 
ly located the German O.P. that I had a glimpse of a few 
days ago. The morning was very pleasant and passed with¬ 
out the least bit of excitement until about noon when we heard 
the French anti-aircraft firing on a German plane. We looked 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


85 


for it all over and at first could not find it but suddenly, over 
it came, going toward the German lines and only about five 
hundred meters directly above our O.P. tree. The motor 
was not going and the pilot was volplaning down. I immedi¬ 
ately took my glasses and fortunately caught him, which by 
the way is very hard to do. He fell just inside the German 
lines, in a group of trees just a little to the right of Chateau 
de St. Marie. That is the first German plane I have seen 
brought down. A little later B Battery did some firing and I 
did their observing for them. About 4:45 we started for the 
guns. When we got in to the battery we found out that an¬ 
other German plane had been dropped in ‘No Man’s Land’ 
during the afternoon, making two for the day. We also found 
out that three French planes had gone far over behind the 
German lines and had taken many pictures and had obtained 
very much valuable information. 

May 22, 1918:—This morning Perry [Lesh] and Sgt. Brun- 
ing went up to the O.P., they are going to chop the tops out 
of several of the trees that hide just a little of the sector in 
front of us. I am staying at the guns today. Since the in¬ 
strument detail is staying here at the guns none of us have 
to spend the night up at the guns. One of the telephone men 
also stays out here now so that we do not have to wait for 
them in the morning when we go up to the O.P. Perry [Lesh] 
found the beginning of my diary in his saddle bags this morn¬ 
ing and I was sure thankful that he did. It was probably due 
to my carelessness that it got into his saddle bag instead of 
my own. 

May 28, 1918:—This morning we had to make a topograph¬ 
ical map of the territory around our guns so as to see whether 
or not it would be advisable to make an entrance to the new 
dug-out that the men are building, from the telephone dug- 
out. They have been working on this new dug-out for about 
one month now. The gun sections that are off gun duty do 
this work. It is now about eight and one half meters deep. 
Sgt. Bruning and I worked on this until about 2:30 when we 
went down to the billets and plotted it out on the plotting 
board. We worked on it until evening mess and then gave 
our dope to Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter who was very well 
satisfied with it. I talked to Perry [Lesh] after he got back 


86 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


from the O.P. today and he said that he saw over fifty horses 
in a corral behind Chateau de St. Marie during the afternoon. 
He also said that the flies bothered the horses that we ride 
to the O.P. so bad that they bled. All of our horses have their 
tails cropped and we usually tie small branches of trees on 
their tails so that they can switch the flies off. 

May 24, 1918:—This morning [George A.] Aurine, [James 
V.] Fox and I went up to the O.P. We pulled the instru¬ 
ments up into the tree and set them up ready to do our day’s 
work. We brought the scope along because yesterday in pull¬ 
ing the tripod up into the tree the strap broke and conse¬ 
quently the tripod was broken. The straps on the scissor 
case are also weak so we have sent it in to the saddler to be 
fixed. We saw nothing out of the usual all day long and our 
visibility was very good. The rain last night left the weather 
very cool and it was very much of a relief from the warm 
weather we have been having. Going back to the battery I 
had a very funny accident happen to me. I claim that my 
horse has a very funny and undesirable shape. He is shaped 
so that the cinch will not stay forward and after riding hard 
it always slips back and consequently loosens up. I was 
dodging from side to side so as to avoid the low branches 
along the narrow path that we always take. The saddle 
slipped back and became loose; I dodged from a branch, lean¬ 
ing far to the side in my saddle and off I went, head first. 
I did not hurt myself but believe me it taught me a lesson. 
I sure tightened that cinch before I went any farther. Fact 
of the matter is I nearly took all the breath away from the 
horse tightening the cinch. 

May 25, 1918:—There was nothing doing all day long on 
the other side today. Our O.P. being in the highest tree 
in the woods we could very easily see that far. About 5:00 
we started in toward the battery. When we arrived there we 
ate our mess and cleaned up a bit. The ration wagon from 
Gelacourt was out and they had some clothes along so I drew 
a new blouse. I then went down to our stables and groomed 
my horse and then let him graze for awile. Mail came in 
and I received thirteen letters. I sat down and read them. It 
is now 10:30. I have finished reading my letters, so I am 
going to bed. This batch of mail has made me so homesick 
that I think I will sleep but little. 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


87 


May 26, 1918:—This morning after eating my breakfast 
I saddled my horse and went in to Gelacourt. I drew another 
new blouse and a pair of American ‘hobs' from our Q.M. I 
then went on in to Baccarat where I bought a pair of wrapped 
putties, some service chevrons, an overseas cap and some 
oranges and then came back Gelacourt. There I changed my 
high shoes for my new American ‘hobs' and putties. I then 
came on out to the guns where I sat down and sewed all 
of the buttons on my blouse. They are never on very tight 
when they come to us from the Q.M. I also sewed my first 
gold service chevron on. (One gold chevron was awarded for 
every six months service overseas). 

May 27, 1918:—This morning Bruning and I took the aim¬ 
ing circle and rode into Gelacourt, then on to Azerailles where 
we accurately located a new gun position for possible future 
use. On our way back we stopped in a cafe at Azerailles and 
got something to eat. While we were there we heard that a 
German plane had been brought down near Brouville so we 
started back. We stopped off just outside of Gelacourt and 
re-located two more reserve gun positions. From there we 
went on to Brouville where we stopped in the Y.M.C.A., got 
something to eat and then went on toward Merviller where 
we re-located another reserve battery position. From there 
we went to the guns arriving there about 5:00. We learned 
that the plane we had heard about while in Azerailles had 
been brought down just in front of our battery position in 
the woods. The German plane had been far over our lines 
and was attacked by a French plane. The French airman got 
the German pilot with a machine gun bullet and then with 
incendiary bullets set the German plane on fire. The German 
pilot in spite of his wound tried to volplane to the German 
lines but the French airman headed him off. While the plane 
was still over one thousand feet in the air the Captain's 
observer jumped out and lit about one mile from where the 
plane did. He had all of his clothes burnt off and his body 
was so badly charred that one could never have recognized it. 
The pilot was in the plane, strapped in; and of course was 
simply burnt to death. When the plane came down it was in 
a mass of flames and when it lit it was mashed into a thousand 
pieces. All of our fellows have pieces of the machine as 
souvenirs. After the fellows had given Sgt. Bruning and I 


88 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


all the information concerning the plane we went down and 
had our mess. While we were eating we were told that some¬ 
one would have to stay at the O.P. all evening, until about 
10:00 or so; Perry [Lesh] had started in, so naturally the lot 
was mine. When I had finished mess I went down to the bil¬ 
lets, saddled my horse and started off. I took nothing but a 
pair of glasses along. On my way I ran in to a group of in¬ 
fantry boys carrying the body of the dead German observer 
Captain. Following these boys came several wagons loaded 
with the remains of the aeroplane. Just before I entered the 
big woods while going through an open field I chased up a 
little red fox, and while I was chasing him I ran into his mate. 
I was nearly on both of them but they made a sharp turn and 
ran on in to the woods. They were two of the prettiest lit¬ 
tle animals I have ever seen. I got up into the O.P. about 
7:00; immediately hooked a phone on and called in to the 
battery. I then started my watch over the German lines. I 
saw very many gun flashes back of the German lines. I tried 
to locate these batteries as accurately as possible so that they 
could be destroyed. About 9:00 while I was sitting up in the 
tree I heard the chatter of a German machine gun but thought 
nothing of it. I also heard a few of the twigs in the trees 
close by snap but still I did not get wise. I had lighted a 
cigarette and of course tried to keep the little light from it 
hidden but evidently I did not for before I knew it the twigs 
in my tree were being snapped and then I realized that I was 
being fired upon by German machine guns. I lost no time 
in getting down out of the tree, and all of the time I had my 
pistol ready to fire if I found it necessary. My watch had 
certainly been a lonely one because I was all by myself and it 
was very dark so I took no unnecessary chances. When I 
started in toward the battery it was about 10:00 but before 
I left the front lines I got the pass word from the infantry 
men because I could not have gone very far without it. The 
pass words were rather comical but even so they were words 
that hardly anyone would think of, “Suffering Suez”. I had 
to get off my horse seven times on the way in and repeat the 
pass words to the guards that I passed. I had not left the 
big woods before quite a little barrage started and of course 
it was a sight to see all of the different star shells going up 
into the air. I could look back and see red, white, and green 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


89 


flares all through the heavens and it seemed as though all of 
the guns on the front were firing. Red flares are the signal 
to stop a barrage, green ones are gas signals and the white 
ones are used to light up ‘No Man’s Land’ after night. I got 
back to the battery about 11:15 and they had gotten a gas 
alert signal. That means that everyone should be prepared 
for a gas attack. Last night we had three false alarms but 
tonight we really expect a real one. I am now going to bed, 
it is 12:00. 

May 28, 1918:—I went up to the guns until about 10:30. 
Just before noon mess some more propaganda balloons came 
over. Perry [Lesh] up at the O.P. caught one of them and 
is going to bring it in when he comes, he also said that there 
was very little activity. It is now 11:00 and I am going to 
bed fully expecting another false gas alarm. We heard late 
this evening that another German drive had started to the 
north of us. 

May 29, 1918:—This morning [Russell] Lamkin and I went 
up to the O.P. We were all pretty tired as we had two gas 
alarms during the night but as usual, they were false. These 
gas alarms are very far reaching because every out-fit has a 
guard on during the night and these guards pick up any gas 
alarm that they happen to hear. For instance, if an out-fit 
two or even four miles to our left or right should happen to 
have a real gas attack they would immediately start to ‘honk’ 
their klaxons and fire two shots from a rifle which is a gas 
alarm signal. This signal is passed up and down the lines 
as all of the guards pick it up and most of the time the gas 
never reaches so far as this, thus all of the false alarms. Last 
night the artillery and machine gun fire was pretty heavy 
and it helped to keep us awake most of the night. I stayed 
up in the O.P. all afternoon and saw but very little until 
about 3:00 when I happened to turn my glasses toward 
Chateau de St. Marie where to my surprise I saw about forty 
horses grazing out in the open quite near the old chateau. 
Even though we have seen so little activity we have good rea¬ 
son to believe that the Germans are strengthening their lines 
along this front. I have seen quite a few very nice air bat¬ 
tles lately, they seem to be coming out more since the weather 
is so nice. I am now sleeping with a little Roumanian, as 


90 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Jimmy [James V.] Fox is up at the guns this week. Ruso 
is sleeping with me because the rats bothered him too much 
where he was. Ruso was transferred to us from some other 
outfit and is a private on one of the gun squads. His father 
was a Colonel in the Roumanian army and after an advance 
made by the Germans was trapped in a room. After he had 
killed a few of the Germans he turned the gun upon himself 
rather than be captured. 

May 30, 1918:—Decoration Day and it has been no different 
to me than any of the preceding days. Wish I were home 
enjoying a good five hundred mile automobile race. I spent 
the morning making a sector sketch of the territory to the 
left of Chateau de St. Marie. During the afternoon I saw 
several horses grazing near the chateau and after I had 
watched them for awhile I leaned against the guard rail of 
the platform and went to sleep for awhile. The weather has 
been beautiful and I have certainly been feeling very fine 
lately. I believe this out-of-door life is sure agreeing with all 
of the fellows because I never hear any of them complain. 

May 31, 1918:—I stayed at the guns all day long. The 
‘snow’ around the battery is that we are to stay here a while 
longer but I surely hope not, they also say that the Germans 
are going through the Allies to the north of us, that is why 
we are to stay here for a while longer. It is now 9:40 and 
it is still light. I can hear many machine guns firing farther 
up in the lines and I suppose there is some real action for a 
wonder. Many planes are up during the day now and they 
stay up very much later now since it stays light so long. We 
had another fake gas alarm last night and the fellows are 
getting so they don’t pay any attention to them any more. 

June 1, 1918:—This morning I went up to the guns. Jimmy 
[James V.] Fox and I sat down and worked a firing data prob¬ 
lem and then [Sgt. Bryant W.] Gillespie showed me around 
the guns and explained the different parts because I have 
never had anything to do with the guns before this. At 
1:00 I stood 45 minutes of gun drill with Sgt. Gillespie’s gun 
section just to get familiar with the duties of a cannonier. We 
also had 15 minutes of drill with our gas masks on. The rest 
of the fellows worked on the big dug-out. 

June 2, 1918:—Since the flies have been so bad for the 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


91 


horses here in the woods we have started tying them in the 
little sheds in the woods not far from the O.P. and quite near 
the infantry kitchens. When we got to the O.P. we found 
that our line was out so [Carl] Moorman immediately started 
out to repair it. When he found the break it sure made him 
sore as our own engineers had deliberately driven through it 
with a team. During the afternoon our 75s and the French 
75s fired quite a bit on a lean-to on the camouflaged road be¬ 
tween Under Champs and Domevre. Some heavier guns also 
fired on the camouflaged road between Blamont and Barbas. 
At 4:00 the Germans started to fire and of course our line 
went out after the first few shots. Several shells lit directly 
in Migneville and several lit in the little group of firs between 
the battery and Migneville. While the Germans were firing 
I was able to pick up the smoke from their batteries and on 
closer observation was able to locate two of their batteries. 
In a few days they will be no more. The Germans are now 
dropping, at a three minute interval, some three inch shells 
which are lighting about four hundred feet in front of our 
battery position. I have noticed too that about four out of 
ten of them are ‘Duds’ or, shells that do not explode. To¬ 
morrow, Sgt. Bruning and I are going out to scout for a new 
O.P. because we want to get one way to the left of our pres¬ 
ent one so that we can see up the valley from Under Champs. 
Things are livening up a bit and the Captain before we started 
gave us strict orders to see that our pistols were in good work¬ 
ing order for it is possible that we may run into a little more 
action than we expect. We will be in territory that is abso¬ 
lutely strange to us and we will be within easy rifle shot of 
the Germans. 

June 3, 1918:—Our regiment is now on the extreme left end 
of the American sector and the French have all of the terri¬ 
tory between here and Luneville. Bill [Sgt. Bruning] and 1 
left our horses in Migneville and walked up the rest of the 
way. After we had jaunted around in the big woods for 
about an hour we found a tree that we thought would be just 
the thing for the new O.P. so we proceeded to make a wire 
tree-climber and finally Sgt. Bruning started up the tree. The 
first branches were about twelve feet from the ground and 
Bruning was about two feet from them when the wire climber 
broke and down Bruning came. He lit square on his neck and 


92 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


it is a wonder that he did not hurt himself, but luck was with 
him and he only jarred himself up a bit. I then tried it with¬ 
out the climber and I got to the same spot where Bill had 
fallen from and my strength gave way so I let go and came 
down. I lit on my feet, but not right, and I gave my ankle 
a slight sprain. We then decided that our tree was not so 
good as we thought it might be and we started in search of 
another. We found two or three that we thought would be 
good but after we had climbed them we found that they were 
not as good as our old O.P. in our sector so we then started 
to scout around merely to see what could be found of interest. 
While we were looking around we ran into a bunch of French¬ 
men and they took us to their O.P. which was sure a peach 
as far as comfort and height was concerned, but their view 
only took in the little village of Domevre. We then decided 
that a better place than our old O.P. could not be had. From 
this French O.P. we could look back into the woods to our 
right and see Perry [Lesh] sitting in our O.P. After we had 
talked to these French soldiers for a while we started back. 
We walked back in to Migneville, got our horses and rode 
into the battery. Just after mess we found out that the sec¬ 
ond platoon was to be sent to an advance position, I don’t 
know just how far forward; Bruning is going along. Perry 
and I are going to stay here with the first platoon. While 
I was up in the big woods today I saw some very wonderful 
machine gun and rifle posts which had complete command 
of the road through the woods; they had been built in pre¬ 
paring for another German drive through this sector. I also 
saw some fine dug-outs, kitchens, sleeping quarters, etc. My 
sprained ankle is hurting pretty badly this evening and I think 
that I will now go to bed and get a good rest. 

June 4, 1918:—This morning [Claude] Moulden and I went 
up to the O.P. French and American 75s did a fair amount 
of firing during the day and a German battery in the Bois de 
Trion fired on the road leading from Migneville to Vaxain- 
ville nearly all day long. They also fired on E Battery of the 
149th but they did not do any damage. Moulden had to re¬ 
pair our line nine times during the day due to this shell fire. 
About noon I began feeling very ‘bum’ and by 3:00 I could 
hardly stay up in the tree. I think I am getting the 'grip’ 
because I ache all over and my back is very sore. I also saw 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


93 


some Medics bring in a dead ‘doughboy’. He was pretty well 
torn up from the burst of shrapnel that had fallen near him. 
About 4:00 we went in to the battery and I did not eat much 
evening mess as I am feeling awfully bad. Hope I am feel¬ 
ing a great deal better by tomorrow morning. 

June 5, 1918:—Luck was not with me today and when I 
woke up I felt so ‘bum’ that I stayed in bed and did not get 
up until 10:30. I had a fever of 104 degrees last night, but 
this morning it was only 101 so they did not send me to the 
hospital. Many of the fellows have been feeling ‘bum’ and 
quite a few of them have been sent to the hospital. It is some¬ 
thing like the ‘flu’. Perry [Lesh] and [Claude] Moulden 
went up to the O.P. today but they came in at 3:00 because 
Perry got this fever while he was up at the O.P. I received 
three letters and then came back down to the billets where 
I sat down to try to answer at least one of them. I have my 
45 lying here on the table side of me for the sole purpose 
of shooting rats as they come snooping around my door. 

June 6, 1918:—The first thing we heard this morning over 
the communique was that the U.S.S. President Lincoln had 
been sunk after it had made five successful trips across. This 
is the boat that all of our battery came across on. I have a 
fierce headache and backache. By noon I had only enough 
‘pep’ left to go up to noon mess and after I had finished eating 
I came back to the billets and wrote some letters. About 
3:00 I lay down and there I stayed until evening mess. I 
brought food down for [Bryant W.] Gillespie, [James V.] 
Fox, [Howard H.] Maxwell and Perry [Lesh], as all of them 
are feeling too sick to get up for mess. Fox didn’t want his 
so I sat there and nibbled away on the toast and steak I had 
brought down for him. About 8:00 I began to feel the effects 
of eating too much evening mess, and I sure got sick. The 
doctor came down and gave me some medicine and I had a 
‘deuce’ of a time all night long. Between Jimmy [Fox] and 
I, both sick and also swatting at rats as they came in the 
door, hardly anyone could have slept. 

June 7, 1918:—While we were in bed last night the second 
platoon came back. They only took this position temporarily 
as they thought the Germans were going to drive toward Bac¬ 
carat. Jimmy [James V. Fox] and I got up about 8:30 and 


94 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


did nothing but lie around all morning. At evening mess 
time I felt well enough to go down to mess, and we sure had 
a wonderful meal of lettuce salad, roast beef, browned pota¬ 
toes and dumplings. I ate all that I could hold because never 
since I have been in the army have I had such a good meal. 
Thus far I have felt no ill effects from it. After the meal, 
[Kenneth] Simms, who works in our Q.M. came out with some 
clothes and I was lucky enough to get a tight fit in a pair of 
trousers. I also drew two new suits of summer underwear 
and all of the fellows were issued a box from the “Judge 
Trench Xmas. Association”, a little late but nevertheless it 
contained some very good things, talcum, tooth paste, etc. 
Jimmy and I then wrote some letters and then we went to 
bed. 

June 8, 1918:—The Captain came down to see the sick boys 
this morning and you should have seen the fellows crawling 
in bed as he came around. We are pretty sure that we are 
going to move soon because the Battalion is taking down their 
telephone wires between the battery and Bn. Hdqrs. We 
found a magnifying glass this morning and everybody has 
been using it to look at pictures that have been sent them 
from home. I got a pair of issue spurs today when the ration 
wagon came out. I also received some mail and some pic¬ 
tures from cousin Pauline [Ballweg]. All the pictures I have 
received from home I have tacked up on the wall and they 
sure look good. 

June 9, 1918:—I went up to the O.P. this morning, but 
there was little doing. Things were so quiet that at 4:00 
we started back for the battery. I might mention here that 
the bridge over the Seine River at Bacarrat, is mined ready 
to be blown up should the occasion arise. According to the 
boast of the Germans, this is the year that Bacarrat is to be 
taken without the least trouble to the Germans. It is funny 
to watch the fellows who go to the hospitals from here. Fel¬ 
lows who can sit up are required to change machines sev¬ 
eral times between here and the hospital and they also have 
to take care of their baggage so when asked whether or not 
they can sit up they say ‘‘No” and of course they are then 
taken care of. Several of the fellows are getting some very 
good pictures. Of course we are not supposed to have cam- 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


95 


eras along but one can always slip something over on any of 
them. We can not get them developed so we are saving all 
of our rolls until we get somewhere to have them taken care 
of. As a whole we are pretty well fixed now, we always have 
plenty of smoking and good food as well as a pretty fair place 
to sleep. Every one seems to be in pretty fair spirits but we 
are all wishing for home. It stays light until about 9:30 now 
and one can get quite a few letters written during these spare 
moments after supper. Our horses are getting along very 
fine and we take a great deal of pleasure in riding them. 
There is very little doing up at the front and outside of a few 
occasional shellings things are very quiet. 

June 10, 1918:—It started raining about 12:00 last night 
and this morning it is very miserable. Bruning and I went 
up to the O.P. We did not go up to observe but to run a 
traverse from the old O.P. to the new one so that we could 
locate it accurately. The co-ordinates of this O.P. we will 
send in to the Bn. Hdqrs. so that they can locate targets in 
regard to this new O.P. This work took us until noon and 
then we started back to the battery. Perry [Lesh] and Pete 
[Clarence E. Clift] went to Baccarat today and brought some 
American cigars, a few little cakes and some Melachrino cigar¬ 
ettes back and we spent the rest of the afternoon eating and 
smoking. At 5:00 we went up to evening mess and there 
noticed that all of our officers are out here at the guns, so 
we think that there is going to be something doing before long. 

June 11, 1918:—This morning I went up to the O.P. and 
took Joe [Joseph L.] Simms along with me as a telephone 
operator. Sgt. Bruning and [Perry] Lesh stayed at the guns. 
We got up to the O.P. in due time but visibility was so poor 
that I could not even see Chateau de Saint Marie all day long; 
I didn’t eat any evening mess because I just felt good and 
lazy enough not to walk up after my mess. About 7:00 
Perry came down to the barracks and we saddled up and went 
to Reherrey after some mail, but to our dismay we got only 
a sack of papers and the fellows were sure disappointed. Sgt. 
[Cecil L.] York and Sgt. Bruning and I sat around for awhile 
talking and then we went to bed. 

June 12, 1918:—This morning Sgt. Bruning and I slept 
until about 8:30, Perry [Lesh] and [Joseph L.] Simms went 


96 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


up to the O.P. Just as we were getting up one of the fellows 
from the gun position came down and told Bruning that the 
divisional inspecting officer was going to visit the O.P., so 
Bruning missed his breakfast and immediately went up to the 
O.P. There is a French newsboy who comes every day and 
while at mess I bought a New York Daily Mail and a Herald 
[Paris editions] and then went down to the billets and read 
all about the war. The weather is as wonderful as one could 
wish for and the fellows are getting over their spells of fever 
and are rounding back into shape again. They are in very 
good spirits but are disgusted because we have not more real 
fighting to do, and outside of a few stray shells coming over 
once in awhile this is just like seeing how long one can live 
away from home, contented under these conditions. During 
evening mess Sgt. Bruning and I decided to take a ride, so 
immediately after mess we got our horses and went to Oger- 
viller about six kilometers from our gun position over in the 
French territory. There we stopped off, went into a cafe and 
had something to eat and drink. About 7:00 we started back 
and we rode very slow and enjoyed the country as we went 
along. When we got back we put our horses away, gave them 
some hay for the night and then went out in the open to watch 
five Boche planes that were being fired on by French anti¬ 
aircraft guns. It is now 8:40 still very light and before long 
we will be hopping away to bed, Oh boy it’s a tough life???? 

June 13, 1918:—After I had finished eating breakfast I 
took my horse down to the water trough, soaped him up and 
gave him a good washing. I then went in to our desk where 
I wrote quite a few letters and read some of the old news¬ 
papers from home. We had a very good noon mess and the 
fellows sure enjoyed it because it is very seldom we get a 
meal that looks real good and then too thoughts of a good 
meal at home make it so much worse. Bill [Bruning] and I 
took a ride after evening mess and about 8:00 we arrived in 
Benamenil where we stopped into an American-Franko 
Y.M.C.A.; there we bought some cakes and chocolate and then 
went out into the village to look around. I was very much 
surprised while walking around; the village was full of French 
colored [Moroccan] troops all packed up and ready to pull 
out. I stopped to talk to one of these negroes and it seemed 
very strange to me when he threw up his hands as much as 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


97 


to say, “You’ll have to speak French to me”. It had never 
occurred to me that a negro could speak anything but the 
American language. About 8:45 we started back and we had 
to hurry because we were sixteen kilometers from our guns. 
On our way back we stopped at Pettonville and bought a few 
eggs for our breakfast in the morning. We arrived at the 
battery about 10:00, stopped at the telephone dug-out where 
we read some of the communique and then went down to our 
billets, put our horses away and went to bed. 

June 14, 1918:—We have given our O.P. a name so that 
when we phone down to the battery no one can tell just where 
it is, except the men who know the name. In naming it we 
thought of home and called it W.I., meaning West Indian¬ 
apolis. Our line to the Battery is again out and it probably 
will remain so unless they change it because constant shell 
fire on the Montigny-Migneville road keeps it pretty well 
broken up. At 4:80 [Carl] Moorman and I started in to the 
battery but we had to take the long way because the Boche 
were dropping shells (220s) on the road we usually take which 
is a short cut. I made a sketch of about 500 mils farther to 
the right in our sector today, I now have about 1450 mils fin¬ 
ished. We spent the evening talking to Cpl. Helt from Bn. 
Hdqrs. who came over to see us; he gave us all the dope about 
leaving and he seems to think that we will leave about next 
Sunday or Monday. Our Division [Forty-second] has been 
on the front 100 days continuous now and that is the longest 
time that an American Division has held a sector by itself so 
far. 

June 15, 1918.—As we were going to the O.P. this morning 
we passed a French battery of 75s right out in an open field, 
they were firing with aerial observation and just finished as 
we passed. They immediately took in their signal panels and 
limbered their pieces and started away, and I want to say 
they sure worked with system. We had not gone far before 
their observation plane came back from the front and just as 
we were saying to one another how fine the plane looked, the 
pilot made a big dip right down toward us. He came within 
100 feet of the ground and directly over our heads, and as 
he passed the observer stood up and waved both hands at 
us. They were going I should judge about 70 miles an hour 


7—22902 


98 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


and we could see all parts of the plane and the men in it very 
well. It was sure a sight. We got to the O.P. and put all of 
our junk up in the tree and there we stayed until about 2:00 
when it clouded up and started to rain. We then took all of 
our stuff down out of the tree, ate our lunch and fed our 
horses and still it rained so we started into the battery. We 
arrived at the battery about 3 :00 put our instruments away 
and were then told that we would have to turn in all blankets 
but one so I don’t know how we will keep warm but I sup¬ 
pose we will make out some way. 

June 16, 1918:—This morning when we got up it was very 
cloudy and miserable. Bill [Bruning] and I saddled up and 
went up to the O.P. We took all of the sketches along that 
I had made, checked them over and made a few corrections. 
I then started on a sketch 500 mils to the right so as to take 
in all of our sector that could be seen. After I had finished 
the 500 mils Bruning and I started in toward the battery. 
On the way in we examined a few shell holes and collected the 
noses of quite a few of the larger shells just to show the fel¬ 
lows back at the battery. During the afternoon at the O.P. 
Perry made a sketch 500 mils farther on to the right, so that 
makes 2450 mils, which finishes the sketch in this sector. 
Sgt. Bruning took the sketch up to the Captain and he put 
his O.K. on it, so the next thing is to trace it so that it can be 
sent in to the divisional intelligence officer. [Carl] Moor¬ 
man will start the tracing of it tomorrow. 

June 17, 1918:—Last night was a very miserable night; I 
was awakened by the hard rain about 2:00 and I never did 
go back to sleep again. This morning at time to get up it 
was still raining and so Sgt. Bruning and I stayed in bed 
until nearly 10:00. [Carl] Moorman started on the tracing 
of the sketch about 10:30 and I helped him as much as I could. 
We worked until about 4:00 and then gave it up until to¬ 
morrow because it is a very tiresome job. Two caissons and 
two escort wagons came out during the day and were loaded 
with ammunition and then went back in to Gelacourt. That 
is always done when they are preparing to move so I sup¬ 
pose we will not be here very long any more. While up at 
evening mess every man got two boxes of hard tack and two 
cans of ‘corned willie’, these are supposed to be our traveling 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


99 


rations. Bruning and I did not stay up at the kitchen very 
long, we came back to the billets, saddled up and went way 
up past Migneville to try to find some real straight water- 
birch saplings to make new aiming posts out of. Bruning 
and I are very disgusted with this life and we have decided 
that if things do not go better we are going to ask for a 
transfer either to the intelligence department or to the tank 
corps. 

June 18, 1918:—This morning when we got up it was still 
very cloudy; Bruning and I got up for breakfast because 
they had pan-cakes and believe me all of the fellows were 
there. Immediately after breakfast [Carl] Moorman 
started to work on the tracing, Perry [Lesh] did not go up 
to the O.P. because it was so very hazy and misty. About 
8:80 just as Bruning was leaving for a trip in to Gelacourt 
Pete [Clarence E.] Clift came out to act as operator for 
awhile. Bruning and I went down to the kitchen and 
‘bummed’ a steak sandwich which we had to hide away in 
our shirts until we got to our room in the billets, for if we 
had shown them to the fellows all of them would have been 
down to the kitchen trying to get something to eat. I be¬ 
lieve it is the first steak sandwich I have had since I have 
been on the front. At 5:30 all of us went up to evening mess 
and it surely was a good one, we had steak, potatoes, sugar, 
coffee, bread and jam. 

June 19, 1918:—This morning Pete [Clarence E.] Clift and 
I went up to the O.P. and since I have had a few days away 
from it the ride up and through the woods to the O.P. was 
certainly a delightful change. The Boche have been shelling 
all during the night, it seems as though they are shelling all 
of the small villages behind our gun position. When we got 
as far as Migneville we found little groups of ‘doughboys’ all 
along the road with their gas masks at the alert position and 
we then found out that the Germans had put over a very great 
deal of gas during the night. We also noticed that several 
of the houses in Migneville were on fire and that the coun¬ 
try in and around Migneville was simply full of shell holes. 
The village was still being shelled at intervals and the ‘dough¬ 
boys’ at first were not going to let us pass but we convinced 
them that we had to get up to our O.P. so they let us pass on. 


100 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Pete [Clarence E.] and I put our gas masks at the alert posi¬ 
tion and went through the streets at a gallop. As we passed 
along we could see the heads of many ‘doughboys’ sticking out 
of the shell proof dug-outs and nearly all of them yelled at us 
to “make it snappy”. When out of the village we took the 
short cut toward the O.P., we could very easily be seen by 
German observation balloons but we kept on going at a good 
rate. We had just entered the big woods at the little tram¬ 
way and everything seemed normal when suddenly we smelled 
the rich sweet odor of phosgene gas. We immediately dropped 
our reins and put on our gas masks as both of us knew just 
what it was, we then made haste and took the little tram¬ 
way leading through the woods. Through our masks we 
could even smell the gas along the tramway and between the 
tracks and along the edge there were several large shell holes 
which had been made during the night. When we got as far 
as the infantry kitchens along the main road we took our gas 
masks off, tied our horses over in the little sheds and went 
on up to the O.P. Shells are bursting within from three to 
four hundred meters from the O.P. but none of them are close 
enough to do any damage. The French have started to fire 
and the shells are whizzing over my head from both sides, 
visibility is very good. At mess today we gave our bacon 
sandwiches to some ‘doughboys’, as all of their food had been 
spoiled by the gas and we started in toward the battery. We 
wore our gas masks all the way through the woods and had 
no trouble at all. 

When we got to Migneville all of the ‘doughboys’ were hang¬ 
ing around their dug-outs ready for a shelling at any time, 
we got through without a mishap but we had not gone far 
out of the village before we heard the shells falling in the 
streets again. When we got to the billets [Latham W.] Con¬ 
nell and [Carl] Moorman had started to take down the tele¬ 
phone wire to the O.P., they slire will have some job because 
this wire runs through the big woods and nearly directly 
through the village of Migneville. While I was there I got 
a month’s pay and I immediately bought some chocolate and 
cakes and started back to the battery. The battery at Gela- 
court were all packed and ready to leave at a moment's notice 
The battery is now firing on Barbas, a little village behind 
the German lines. This is retaliation fire. After mess Brun- 

c > 

• l > </ 

V) * 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


101 


ing and I stayed around the guns and watched for enemy 
planes while the battery fired. I fired about twenty rounds 
and then I went down to the billets and got all of my junk 
ready so that I could leave at any time. All indications are 
that we will leave here tonight sometime. I do not know just 
where we will go, some say to another front and others say 
that it will be our first step towards home. This ifc the end 
of the first book of my diary. 

June 20, 1918:—I was very fortunate in getting a note book 
as good as the one I have to keep my diary in because I have 
tried many times to get a book suitable but have been unable. 
One of the fellows in the battery was good enough to give me 
this book. The battery fired until 10:30 last night and then 
the second platoon pulled out, Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff went with 
it, where they went I do not know. The battery fired about 
six hundred rounds altogether, they fired O.A., F.A., and gas 
shells, and the report is that we literally tore up Barbas. 
Perry [Lesh] stayed here at the guns all night and we all 
slept until nearly 8:30 this morning. The weather is very 
unsettled, raining one minute and sun shining the next. At 
about 11:30 we went down to noon mess and there we were 
told that we have to vacate the billets we are in by 3:30 as 
the French were to take them over at that tim£. So imme¬ 
diately after mess all of us went down to the billets where 
we packed our junk and all of the men are now staying up 
here at the guns. If it is cloudy at 6:00 so that the Germans 
can not see us move we will leave, but if the sun is shining 
and it is bright we will have to wait until 10:00 tonight. 
Unfortunately it stayed bright the rest of the day so we 
waited until 10:00 before we started to get out. The limbers 
came out from Gelacourt and we loaded the rest of the four- 
gon. By the time we had it all loaded the battery was ready 
to start and the fourgon, followed by Bruning, Lesh and I, 
led the procession into Gelacourt. At Gelacourt the rest of 
the battery was ready to leave, it took them about one hour 
to get organized and at 12:00 we started away from Gela¬ 
court to,—I don’t know where. It was raining very hard. 

June 21, 1918:—The hike was certainly a ‘peach’,—rain, 
rain, rain, that’s all it did the whole night long and everyone 
of us was soaked through and through. If it had been a 


102 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


warm rain it would not have been so bad but it was as cold 
as it could be. All of the detail rode their single mounts but 
during the night we would get off our horses and walk for 
long stretches to keep warm. [Leslie H.] Coleman and I 
rode together and we took turn-about sleeping as we sat on 
our horse. We went through Fontenoy about 2:00 A.M. and 
it was very dark, the detail telephone men acted as road mark¬ 
ers. At 5:00 a.m. we stopped and had breakfast which con¬ 
sisted of ‘slum’ and coffee, and it certainly went good, at 6:00 
we again started on our way. We were sure glad that it was 
getting light because even though it was no warmer it was 
very much more cheerful. At 8:00 we pulled into Haillain- 
ville where the whole regiment was assembled, we immedi¬ 
ately pulled the guns to the parking space and put all of the 
materiel and horses away and then went to billets which were 
assigned us and went to bed. At 11:00 we were awakened 
and part of the battery went to stables while the other part 
went to the materiel and straightened it all up. Those of 
us who had traveled all night then went to bed and there 
we stayed until 4:00 p.m. and had a good sleep and rest be¬ 
cause we were very tired. At 4:00 when we got up we went 
down to stables, fed our horses and watered them and then 
we had evening mess. The village is a pretty fair sized one 
but it is very unclean and not a very inviting place. At 
about 7:00 I met John Bosson and he told me that he had over¬ 
heard a conversation that he, [Claude] Moulden, Pete 
[Clarence E.] Clift and I would have to leave at 6:00 in the 
morning for a loading place for the battery. There we are 
to escort the different parts of the battery to their cars as 
they come to entrain. All of the fellows are pretty tired and 
so about 8:00 we all packed our junk again and went to bed. 
It stopped raining during the afternoon and it will sure be a 
fine night to sleep. 

June 22, 1918:—This morning we four men were awak¬ 
ened at 5 :00, we got up, fed our horses and ate a little break¬ 
fast and then saddled up ready to start. We reported to Capt. 
[Theodore] Taylor of the Supply Co., and at 6:00 we started 
out. We were not the only ones; there were details of four 
men each from the rest of the batteries. The ride was a very 
pleasant one and the country was very much better looking 
and places were much cleaner along the road than any I had 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


103 


seen before. At 9:30 we arrived at Chatel on the Moselle 
River, a pretty fair sized town and very beautiful, a very 
clean place with good clean wide streets and a good sized rail¬ 
road center. We rode into the little waiting place along side 
the station where we tied our horses and then sat down to 
wait until the officers had found out, or rather received orders 
from Hdqrs. as to what they were to do. Orders had been 
changed in the meantime and so we were to return to our or¬ 
ganizations. All of the men decided to stay until 1:00 P.M. 
and then all start back to the little village of Haillainville, 
Pete [Clarence E.], [Claude] Moulden, Johnny [John U. Bos- 
son] and I immediately went to a hotel for a feed. We had 
scrambled eggs, beef steak, bread, butter, strawberries and 
sugar. That meal was a treat. While we were waiting for our 
food Johnny Bosson took a look around the hotel and found a 
piano and now he is playing and we are having a regular time. 
The weather is fine and the town is surely one of the best I 
have been in since I have been in France. The first place we hit 
after eating was a wine shop where all of the fellows had a 
little drink, we then went into a little curio shop and pur¬ 
chased a few things that we needed such as pencils, a daily 
paper, etc. From there we went to a little food shop where 
we found some great big fresh strawberries, so we bought a 
big bag full of them and then went down to the bank of the 
Moselle where we sat down and ate them. At 1:00 P.M. all 
of us started back except the Sergeant in charge, he had a 
little too much “Vin Rouge” so we went on and left him be¬ 
hind because we could not find him and he wasn’t one of our 
fellows anyway. We got back to Haillainville about 4:00, un¬ 
saddled and then I took my horse to the blacksmith shop and 
had a loose shoe tightened up so that he would not be bothered 
during the next hike. We had retreat and an inspection of 
arms at 5:00 and mess at 5:30. After mess I sat down to 
rest a little and think about the country that we passed 
through today. I cannot help but mention the wonderful 
roads, the cleanliness of the country as a whole hereabouts 
and the many truck gardens I saw while passing along. The 
country is rolling, beautiful and rather restful to one. 

June 23, 1918:—This morning after eating mess and stand¬ 
ing reveille we were told to pack all of our junk and get ready 
to move, so everything was gotten ready. At 10:00 we wa- 


104 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


tered and fed the horses; at 10:30 we had mess and at 12:00 
we pulled out on a hike to some loading place, where I don’t 
know. Many times we stopped along the road as we had 
plenty of time and no one was hard worked, at 4:30 we had 
mess along the road and then started on again. We entered 
Charmes at about 8:00, it was dark and I saw one of the most 
wonderful sights that I ever hope to see. Just as we were 
going through the town the Germans came over Charmes with 
about six planes to put on a little air raid. We could see 
some of the town because the lights from shells and guns 
shown all over the town, the anti-aircraft batteries put up a 
barrage all around the town so that the Germans could not 
get directly over it, but in spite of that some few of them got 
low enough over the town to drop some bombs and of course 
the explosion of them echoed through the streets. All of the 
big buildings had machine guns mounted on top of them and 
above all of the rest of the noise one could hear the pep,— 
pep,—pep of their fire and see the fiery tracer bullets speed¬ 
ing toward one of the planes. Great large search lights, fif¬ 
teen at least I would say, were playing all over the town and 
every once in awhile I could get a glimpse of one of the planes. 
Everytime an anti-aircraft shell would burst far up in the 
air I could see the little spurt of fire, and long after hear the 
report of its explosion and during this time our heavy bat¬ 
tery was rumbling along the cobble stone streets toward the 
1 loading place. It was the first air raid I had witnessed and 
it certainly was a sight worth remembering. Several Illinois 
outfits were loading at the same place and at about 8:30 we 
helped the battery to load. We then found out that quite a 
few of the A Battery men were to travel with Bn. Hdqrs, and 
I happened to be one of them so we all put our junk to one 
side and waited for the Battalion train to pull in. At 11:30 
the battery pulled out and the Battalion train pulled in, we 
immediately started to load. After our horses, mules and 
wagons were loaded [Herman R.] Armstrong and I helped 
some of the Battalion men load some of their horses and mules 
because it is certainly a job to get the old ‘dudes’ into a car 
without fighting some of them. Joe [Joseph L.] Simms, Ken¬ 
neth Simms, [Latham W.] Connell, [James A.] Miles, Arm¬ 
strong, and about six more of we A Battery men are in a car 
together, we have straw in the bottom of the car and we are 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


105 


sleeping under horse blankets as we do not want to undo our 
packs. We have the same kind of a car that the horses and 
mules are loaded in, but it isn’t so bad after all. We have all 
of our junk in the cars and are ready to pull out and I am 
now going to bed as it is now 4:30 a.m. 

June 24, 1918:—At 7:30 Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter 
awakened us as the rations were being given out and we had to 
go up to the front end of the car to get ours. We got food 
for the rest of the day which consisted of jam, real hard tack, 
‘corned willie’, beans and butter; that along with what we 
had carried with us kept us going pretty well. I stayed up 
for a little while and watched the country roll by, I do not 
know what time it was when we pulled out, I ate a little and 
then went back to bed. Early this morning we went through 
Toul and during the day we have passed through many little 
villages, some of the most important being Longueville, Bar-le- 
Duc, Mussey, and Sermaize-les-Bains. The country is truly 
beautiful, great big hills and long peneplains, and the farther 
we got the cleaner it seems to get. We are now stopped in 
a small town; I do not know how much longer we will have 
to travel because I do not know where we are going. I have 
noticed too that the country is becoming more and more flat 
and the fields are much larger and there are quite a few more 
truck gardens. The boys in our car have started a rhum 
game for a half Franc a hand; funds are very low, but they 
are having a good time. Our train has now started on and 
we are passing quite a few aeroplane hangers, probably for 
schooling purposes, many cantonments for French and British 
soldiers and many temporary camps. We made about a five 
minute stop in Blesmes, about the same in Vitry-le-Francois, 
and about 5:15 we pulled into Chalons. Lieut. Trotter had 
been back to our train a little before we pulled into Chalons 
and told us to pack our junk and as soon as we had pulled in 
the loading platform the train was unloaded, the starting sig¬ 
nal given and we went through the heart of Chalons. The 
city of Chalons is a very beautiful place and an awfully clean 
looking place, there are a number of real large parks, a very 
extensive system of beautiful canals and the streets are simply 
wonderful, straight, wide, smooth and lined on each side with 
large Linden trees. It is the first French city I have been in 
that has a real system of electric street railways, the buildings 



106 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


are very large and all of them are made of white stone. It 
is located on the river Marne and their canal system takes 
care of all of the inland shipping. There are a few Amer¬ 
ican soldiers here in this place. After we got out of town we 
made several stops, but not until 9:15 did we stop for our 
evening mess, which was a very poor one, ‘corned willie’ and 
bread was all. Our horses were fed and our rest was about 
one half hour and then we started on, we arrived in this camp 
about 12:45. It seems to be a pretty large camp, plenty of 
stables for the horses and plenty of cantonments for the men, 
the cantonments are full of bunks, and every bunk has a straw 
tick. I believe it will be very convenient and pleasant here. 

June 25, 1918:—This morning we got up at 6:15 went down 
to the stables, watered the horses and then came back and had 
our own breakfast. We then went down to stables again 
where we watered, fed, groomed and washed all of the har¬ 
ness, of course this work used up the morning, so about 11:00 
the horses were again watered and fed and the men came in 
to noon mess. Directly after mess nearly all of the men or¬ 
ganized their personal equipment and fixed up their bunks so 
that things would look half way presentable, it is pretty warm 
but the weather is very pleasant and I think the fellows are 
all very well satisfied. This camp is large enough to accom¬ 
modate the whole regiment which is here now, the country 
is very flat and the ground is clay, I’ll bet it's a mess when a 
good rain comes. We do not have to wear our gas masks any 
more and it certainly is a relief to be able to run around with¬ 
out them, helmets are also out of order now but blouses are 
to be worn at all times. The battery has nothing to do until 
4:00, so as soon as Dick Bosson and I had our own junk in 
good order we went down to a creek near here and took a 
real for sure bath, a regular scrub from top to bottom. I 
then took a good shave and having changed all of my clothes 
I certainly felt good. At 4:00 instead of going to stables, 
Bruning and Cpl. Teemeyer (Fred Turner) went in to the 
village to try to arrange an evening meal for tonight, but they 
could have no luck. They did fix it up for a meal tomorrow 
evening. Several of the boys went after some new horses 
just after we got here the other night and they just came in 
with fifty-seven, so I went down to look them over, our bat¬ 
tery will get about eight of them. It is now about 9:30, still 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


107 


light but I am pretty sleepy and I think I will go to bed. One 
year ago today the battery was called out for service. 

June 26, 1918:—This morning after I had been to the 
reveille formation and eaten my breakfast I found out that I 
was N.C.O. so I collected my men and started to clean up the 
camp. After we had cleaned up all of the cantonments we 
built an incinerator and cleaned up the grounds all around the 
cantonments and kitchen occupied by our battery. About 
2:00 P.M. there was a very large bag of second class mail and 
so now all of the fellows have papers from home and they 
sure do read and yell about the news. The fellows are wild 
about this camp so far but I think we will soon get over that 
because from the way they are starting out this is going to 
be another “Model Camp” similar to the one we kept at Camp 
Mills, we are having regular meals but I think they are trying 
to get rid of all of their ‘corned willie’ for that’s all we are 
eating now. The camp is supposed to be a rest camp, it is 
about 30 kilos from the Chateau-Thierry front. We hear that 
the Forty-second Division is now a part of the French Army 
and that we will be used from now on as a shock division. 
Directly after noon mess the Captain talked to all of the 
non-coms telling them how all of the horse and personal equip¬ 
ment should be kept. We have been having very good 
reveille formations at 7:00 in the morning but I think from 
now on we will be called at 6:30, we are having no retreats. 
At 6:00 this evening Dick [Richard M.] Bosson, Sgt. Brun- 
ing, [Fred] Turner, [Leslie H.] Coleman and I went up into 
the village and had the meal that Bruning and Turner had 
planned for us. We certainly had a very fine meal, fried po¬ 
tatoes, baked duck, salad and all of the wine that the fellows 
could drink. 

June 27, 1918:—After we had gone to stables this morn¬ 
ing the regimental officers held an inspection and from what 
I can hear it came out better than any battery in the regi¬ 
ment. Today is bath day and certain sections are going at 
certain times, so after my detail had finished cleaning the 
stables we all went up to the cantonments and prepared for 
our baths. The regiment has a portable hot shower and every 
time we make a long stop it is put up and the whole regiment 
gets to take a bath. It was a ‘peach’ and after the fellows 


108 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


got out they certainly felt better. I went direct to the “Y” 
where I bought some cakes, hot chocolate, soap and matches 
and then went back to the cantonment as it was nearly noon 
mess time. After mess I lay down on my bunk and went to 
sleep but being in the army I didn’t get to sleep very long. 
While the fellows were washing the horses I dug down into 
the bottom of the packed fourgon and got a few packages of 
‘Camels’ as my supply was running very low, nearly all of the 
fellows are of ‘Tailor Mades’ and I am going easy on what 
I have left. We had no more than gone to the cantonment 
after washing the horses when stables blew and of course we 
all had to go back down to stables. I had to take charge of 
the ninth section while they groomed as their chief of section 
was gone. At 5:00 we watered and fed and then went up 
to the cantonment where a little first class mail was being dis¬ 
tributed. I received six letters. At 5:30 we all lined up for 
mess and at 6:30 we had retreat which the Captain took 
charge of, he of course had to give us a talk on personal equip¬ 
ment, duty, etc. and after this was over I went in and read 
my mail. They have closed all of the cafes here in the village 
and of course the fellows are all hunting the back doors try¬ 
ing to buy wine. After I had finished reading my mail I 
read a Chicago Tribune. ‘Pug’ [Rogers H.] George and I 
then ate a can of jam and a box of hard tack after which 
‘Pug’ piled in bed. I sleep with him and am going to follow 
him in just a few minutes. It is now 9:15. 


CHAPTER VI 
m HE Champagne Front 


June 28, 1918:—At 1:00 today we all lined up for a little 
'doughboy’ drill. We had only marched out onto the road when 
we where given "Squads right about”, and marched right back 
to where we had started from. After the battery had been 
halted the Captain told us to go to our cantonments pack all 
of our junk and get ready to leave. At 5:00 the order had 
not come down to pull out so we all went up to the mess shack 
and had something to eat. At 11:15 we pulled out, our bat¬ 
tery was about the last one in the procession and the whole 
regiment pulled out at the same time, it was moonlight and 
riding was very pleasant. We rode all night and things went 
along very well until early in the morning just before dawn 
it got pretty chilly. We pulled into some very good stables at 
Somme Vesle just a little after day break, and of course the 
first thing that we did was water and feed the horses. Dur¬ 
ing our ride we saw several planes carrying red and green 
lights and some of them came very low and carried no lights 
at all. The country is very flat around here, even more so 
than any I have seen since I have been in France. After we 
had pulled into the stables, watered and fed we all went to 
the billets that had been prepared for us. 

June 29, 1918:—When I had put all of my junk away 
[Fred] Turner, [Leslie H.] Coleman and I immediately went 
out to scout for food. As luck would have it we ran into our 
regimental interpreter who soon had us to a place where we 
arranged for a mighty fine meal, while there we had a bottle 
of champagne, a dozen eggs and some bread and after we had 
finished eating we went directly to our billets and went to 
bed. We were allowed to sleep until 11:30 when we all had 
to go to stables, we did not have to groom as it was very late 
so we only watered and fed. Sgts. Bosson, Bruning, Morgan, 
Cpls. Coleman, Turner and I then went to the private home 
where our meal was awaiting us, it surely was a fine one. 
We had as many French fried potatoes as we could eat, about 
three dozen eggs, some lettuce salad and five quarts of cham- 


( 109 ) 



110 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


pagne, which by the way, only cost us about two dollars a 
quart. 

June 30, 1918:—Today being Sunday one would think we 
would at least be allowed to sleep a little later, but as usual 
we got up at 6:30, however we did not have to go directly 
down to stables as the stable boys and guards had done the 
feeding. Breakfast was no good and after they had called 
the stable formation at 10:30 and the fellows thought they 
would get a rest, a watering and feeding call was blown at 
11:30 so the fellows are pretty well disgusted. At 12:00 we 
had noon mess which was not very much better than break¬ 
fast and after I had eaten as much as I could I went back to 
the billets and started to write some letters, nearly all the 
rest of our battery are out playing a game of ball with F Bat¬ 
tery. Since we have been here we have seen quite a few 
planes, some of them very large ones with twin motors and 
twin propellers; I suppose there is an aviation field pretty 
close somewhere. Went to mess at 5:00 where we had ‘slum’ 
which was just simply rotten; after mess we all went up to 
an old stone bridge where we sat down and listened to the 
band play a few numbers, it was certainly pleasant and it 
had about all of our blues chased away when our 7:00 water 
call blew. Our battery is the only battery that is watering 
four times a day. 

July 1, 1918:—About 9:00 when we were down at stables 
the detail was told to saddle up and we started out with the 
Captain. The details out of each battery went along to a 
point a little south of this village where each battery took up 
a position, established communication from O.P. to Battery 
P.C. and then to Bn. Post of Command. Anything to make 
work! After that was finished we came in and got back to 
stables just in time to help lead out to water. Mess hap¬ 
pened to be one that the fellows had arranged at a French 
home and on the way I stopped and put in an order for some 
jam and butter at a little grocery store. [Farrell E.] Potter 
went down to battery mess and drew bread and beans for the 
bunch and [Earl R.] Barcus 1 went out and bought two bot¬ 
tles of champagne, so for our noon mess we had champagne, 

1 Earl R. Barcus, of Indianapolis, killed while in hospital by airplane bombardment 
of Germans, July 25, 1918. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


111 


twenty eggs in an omelet, pork chops, so many french fried 
potatoes that we had to leave some, lettuce salad, beans, bread 
and water; [Farrell E.] Potter, [Leroy R.] Thomas, [Fred] 
Turner, [Earl R.] Barcus and I sat at this meal, and it surely 
was a ‘peach’. The old French lady of this house went out 
to the meat wagon and bought this meat for us as none of 
we Americans can buy meat from the French, as they are 
supposed to have only enough to feed themselves. It was 
certainly the best meal that I have had for a long while. At 
5:00 we had retreat and then mess but I did not go after it 
because I wanted to wash and shave. I had just finished 
shaving when the order came down to pack junk and get 
ready to leave. So pack we did, and all of us were down at 
stables with our junk, ready to saddle up and leave when the 
First Sergeant blew his whistle; we had to line up and go back 
to our billets and go to bed as the orders had been changed. 
So back to our billets we went made our beds and then started 
a poker game. Now if this army isn’t a joke, I don’t know 
just what is. 

July 2, 1918:—Today we had another dinner at the French 
woman’s house and she sure put up a fine meal. We had fried 
potatoes, eggs, salad (lettuce), bread, red wine, beans and 
some meat that we brought down from battery mess. There 
was nothing for us to do until 8:80 so I lay down and slept 
for awhile; I was awakened by the bugle and of course all of 
us trotted off to stables. At 5:15 we had retreat and at the 
same time a little mail came in. I received quite a few pic¬ 
tures from home and they certainly were interesting. 

July 3, 1918:—At 8:00 we went to stables and groomed, 
a little surprise awaited the fellows and we were dismissed at 
10:30 something that is very seldom done, but there is always 
a joker in the army and at 11:00 stable call blew again and 
back we went and fed the horses. I then went to our battery 
mess and drew bread and boiled meat for five of us and we 
all went to the French woman’s for dinner. When we got to 
the French woman’s home we found out that we could have 
no meal as she was unable to get any potatoes or eggs, so back 
to the battery mess we went. We also received orders to line 
up at 1:30 with side-arms and we all thought that we were 
going to have some ‘doughboy’ drill up until 3:30. The boys 


112 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


are pretty well disgusted because we are being driven so hard 
and are not getting the proper food. At 1:15 drill call blew 
and we went out and ‘doughboyed’ until 3:00; I’ll say most of 
the boys were dragging pretty close to the ground when we 
came back in. At 3:30 stable call blew and we all went down 
to stables where we groomed, watered and fed and were dis¬ 
missed at 4:15. I am now going to bed as I am pretty tired; 

in all this has been just simply one h- of a day. It is 

now 9:45. 

July 4, 1918:—At 2:00 a.m. we were awakened and imme¬ 
diately got ready to leave, the details left Somme Vesle at 
4:00 A.M. A detail out of every battery and Bn. Hdqrs. all 
left together, we took all of our equipment and personal be¬ 
longings with us on our horses. We rode all day long before 
a marker was dropped off for the battery and then [Leslie] 
Coleman was the first one to be left; he went all the way back 
to the first town that we came through to escort the battery 
on when it gets there. Before we arrived in Suippes we 
stopped at a road camp and ate the food that had been issued 
us, it consisted of jam, hardtack, ‘corned willie’ and bread; 
after we had finished we continued on to Suippes. While eat¬ 
ing at the road camp I took my pistol off and then left and 
forgot it so I suppose it is gone by now. We arrived in Suippes 
at 1:00 and we all went to a large barn where we unsaddled 
and fed our horses. The boys went out through the town 
which is a rather good sized place and found a French canteen 
where they bought chocolate, sardines, oranges, champagne 
and wine and then they came back to the old barn where we 
all lay down for a short sleep before getting further orders. 
At about 3:00 the Captain came and awakened us and we 
started on, arriving at our destination about 5:00 P.M. We 
stopped in a thicket which was very small and which will be 
used as the echelon, the telephone men immediately started 
to lay wire from this thicket to the gun position. The posi¬ 
tion is out in the open country, merely pits dug for the guns 
and camouflaged over the top; there is also one officer's dug- 
out. I had orders at 9:00 to go back to Suippes to escort the 
battery to this place. Between the thicket and the town of 
Suippes the country is very level, white and chalky and there 
are no more trees. There are very many camps of American, 
French, Italian and Alpine ‘doughboys’ along this newly made 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


113 


road and they all seem to be ready to make their little journey 
to the front, so I suppose there will be something doing before 
very long. The fellows say that this country is just like 
Texas and the trees really impress one that way for they are 
only four or five feet high and are evergreens. Just before 
I got into Suippes I passed very many companies of ‘dough¬ 
boys’, machine gun outfits and trench mortar outfits going up 
to occupy the second line trenches. Above my head I could 
hear the constant hum and buzz of aeroplanes but it was very 
dark and of course I could see none of them. Not far off to 
my right I could also hear the rumble of a terrific barrage and 
I felt rather lost with no one I knew along, but I arrived in 
Suippes at 11:00 and there was more life in the town. I had 
just tied my horse to a telephone post (put up by Americans) 
when the battery came along so I fell in at the head of the 
column and took the lead toward our position. I could not 
hear another thing other than the rumble of the heavy pieces, 
caissons and battery wagons on these hard roads and it sure 
seemed good to get with the battery again. Tonight the stars 
are shining very bright, it is a little chilly though. All the 
way back I had to ride forward and then ride back to the bat¬ 
tery, and several times I thought I had lost my way but I 
came out alright. 

July 5, 1918:—At 1:05 a.m. we had gotten as far as our 
thicket, the battery was halted and I took Lieut. [Charles D.] 
Clift around the thicket and showed him where all of the non- 
combatant wheel materiel was to be parked. I also awakened 
the Captain. I then went back to the battery and took Lieut. 
[Aloys] Knaff, the pieces, caissons and the fourgon to the 
gun position where the battery was halted. Lieut. Knaff 
would take charge of one piece while I would take care of 
another piece and we finally got them all into position. 
All of the caissons were unloaded at the gun position and the 
fourgon was unloaded in front of the Captain’s dug-out; after 
that work was all done I took the fourgon back to the thicket 
and then put my horse away and crawled in the pup-tent with 
Pete [Clarence E.] Clift for the night. The cannoneers all 
stayed at the guns and when we got to the thicket the drivers 
and extra men were putting away the wheel materiel, all of 
the detail men were sleeping, well worn out. It was 3:05 
a.m. when I crawled in bed and I slept until ten the next 


8—22902 


114 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


morning. When I got up I found that the thicket we were 
in was completely filled with other outfits that had pulled in 
during the night. I took a walk up to our kitchen where I 
got some ‘corned willie’ and bread and then walked over to 
our telephone where I sat down to eat. Our new echelon is 
about three quarters of a mile from the old one in a thicket 
not very much larger than our old place, but much more 
pleasant and on higher ground and from this place we can see 
the gun position and the O.P. There doesn’t seem to be a very 
great deal doing on the front and things are rather pleasant 
now; Perry [Lesh] is up at the O.P. with the scissors; Sgt. 
Bruning is at the guns. I took time enough to look on a map 
to determine just where we are and I find that we are right 
between Rheims and Verdun. Sgt. [Richard M.] Bosson and 
his men are busy stringing wire from guns to O.P., from guns 
to echelon, echelon to B Battery and from echelon to Bn. 
Hdqrs. In moving the battery we were allowed to move only 
one wagon at a time and then at a fifteen minute interval be¬ 
cause the battery, echelon and all, are so much out in the open 
that we could easily be seen by aeroplane. There are no 
billets around here and we all sleep in pup-tents on the 
ground, I haven’t had a chance to wash for three days but 
I would rather take this time to write up my diary before I 
have something else to do. We are supposed to be in a re¬ 
serve position with our battery and we are not supposed to fire 
unless the Germans start a drive, and a drive is expected here 
very shortly. From dusk on until midnight the gun crews 
handled ammunition, a small tramway runs about a half mile 
from the gun position and from it 1200 rounds and enough 
powder for the same was brought in. Gun crews are changed 
every twenty-four hours and I’ll say when the boys come in 
they are just about all in; food is taken to the gun position 
from the echelon and then the little two-wheeled ration cart 
comes back in until time for the next meal. We have two 
machine guns mounted at the gun position, one just to the 
right of the first piece and the other on top of the officers dug- 
out. 

July 6, 1918:—After I had eaten my breakfast I went out 
to the guns for an all day stretch at duty, [William H.] Brun¬ 
ing stayed at the guns also. Last night we could hear a great 
deal of artillery fire but none of it was very close to us, the 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


115 


weather has been fine and everyone seems to be pretty well 
contented now. Bryant Gillespie’s brother, Boyd is now in 
one of the gun squads in our battery. There are quite a few 
planes around this sector and any time during the day one 
can hear them humming far up in the air sometimes so high 
that they can not be seen. I understand that we are going 
to have to stand shifts of three-hour watches during the night 
here at the O.P. but we have communication with all the nec¬ 
essary places so we are pretty safe. From the guns our O.P. 
can be seen and I can see the echelon and the guns from here, 
so if necessary we can establish visual signaling. About a 
kilometer to the south of us a large observation balloon has 
been put up; it is an American balloon the first one I have 
seen up in this sector. I have taken a general look over the 
territory but we are so far from the front that I can hardly 
make out a thing from where I am. Bruning brought me 
my mess tonight which consisted of hamburger with onions 
in it, but I did not eat that, so I had hardtack, cold mashed 
potatoes, cold coffee without sugar and a pipe full of tobacco 

for my mess. I am so d-disgusted with the way things 

are run that I don’t know what to do, one may as well get 
shot and go back to a hospital. This place is very dead, I 
haven’t heard the burst of a German shell since I have been 
here, it so nearly resembles a cemetery that the ony thing it 
lacks are the tombstones. All of the fighting seems to be 
to the north of here and I sure hope they bring some of it 
down this way before long. The General [Sgt. Bruning] is 
now peacefully sleeping in our pup-tent and I am up here at 
the O.P. on the first of our three hour shifts; if I don’t go 
to sleep during one of these shifts I hope somebody chokes 
me. I sat up until 9:30 and then the Captain called up and 
said that it would not be necessary for us to sit up all night 
so I took down the instruments and went to bed. 

July 7, 1918:—There are some Indianapolis Stars at the 
gun position but I could not carry them so Perry [Lesh] is 
going to bring them up to us. We are now on what they call 
a busy front; last night there was quite a little artillery firing 
and many planes were up but we have not fired yet. The 
French are holding the first line trenches and the Americans 
are holding the second lines and the reserve positions. I got 
four letters and some [Indianapolis] Stars today. At 12:15 



116 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


I went down after mess and we had a meal of beans and 
canned pumpkin, so you can imagine what an awful fine meal 
it was; when I brought it back to Bill [Bruning] he threw 
it at me and then I had to sit down and scrape pumpkin off 
my clothes. Our tent is full of pine boughs now so during 
the afternoon we lay around and tried it out, we read and 
slept a little. At 7:30 Major [Guy M.] Wainwright and sev¬ 
eral “iggy” Lieutenants came up and now General [Sgt.] 
Bruning is helping them win the war with the scissors. Perry 
[Lesh] came up about 8:00 and instead of semaphoring we 
lay around and talked for awhile. About bed time the Major 
came over and pointed out a tree that he wanted us to watch 
for barrage signals. 

July 8, 1918:—During the morning I lay around and wrote 
some letters; it is awful hot and one doesn’t feel like doing 
very much. The Captain [Sidney S. Miller] and Lieut. 
[Clarence E.] Trotter were up toward the front this after¬ 
noon and they found a tree suitable for a forward O.P. so 
tonight Perry [Lesh], Sgt. Bruning and I go up to this for¬ 
ward O.P. to stay all the time. We are to keep our horses 
up there with us so, in case of an emergency we can get away. 
Oats for the horses and our food will be brought to us from 
the battery but we will have to do our own cooking. French 
canteens have been issued us as they hold more than the 
American canteens do, water is very scarce up here. At 5:15 
I went down to the battery and ate mess, I then went up to 
our old O.P. where we loaded all of our instruments in the 
fourgon and our personal equipment on our horses and started 
for the forward O.P. Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter led the 
way, Sgt. Bruning and I rode our horses and Perry drove the 
fourgon as Sgt. [Richard M.] Bosson and his men had gone 
ahead to lay wire from the new O.P. back to the battery posi¬ 
tion. We were followed by the ration cart which is hauling 
a load of food for us and the horses. About 8:30 we arrived 
at Saint Hillaire Farm where we pitched our camp; there are 
about five buildings here completely ruined from shell fire and 
a pump here that is still in good working condition. While 
the rest of the fellows were arranging camp I took a walk up 
to the O.P. with Lieut. Trotter; the O.P. is about a fifteen 
minute’s walk from our new camp. It is located in a little 
group of pine trees and the O.P. itself is built about fifteen 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


117 


feet from the ground out of pine branches. Lieut. Trotter 
pointed out several points in the German lines so that I could 
use these to start out with the first thing in the morning, and 
locate all things of importance. Several shells lit within about 
500 yds. of us, but they were not close enough to do any dam- 
age. Sgt. Bruning stayed at the farm to organize our little 
camp and Sgt. Bosson has the line through from the O.P. to 
the farm. Bruning and I immediately put pine boughs in our 
place so that our beds would be soft. We have two phones 
along,—one for the O.P. and one for the camp, so we put one 
phone on and tried to get the battery position but Sgt. Bos¬ 
son had not gotten the line through yet, so we all went to bed. 

July 9, 1918:—We all got up at 7:00, watered the three 
horses and for our own breakfasts made a cup of beef boullion 
for each. After breakfast Bruning and I took the aiming 
circle, a telephone, the maps, the scissors instrument and our 
field glasses and picked our way through the open fields, which 
were cut up with trenches, to the O.P. When we got up to 
the O.P. the first thing we did was to put up the instru¬ 
ments and Bruning immediately got to work locating different 
things in the German lines. I put a phone on but the line 
was still out so I took a little walk to a sound ranging dug- 
out that is very close to here. I stayed there about a half 
hour watching some French officers trying to locate a German 
battery that has been firing for a good while. All of their 
work is done by electrical equipment and records the direction 
of sound; range they must determine with the aid of their 
own experience. Here at the O.P. we are with French al¬ 
together, whereas at the battery one hardly ever sees a 
Frenchman. The weather is fine now, it is cloudy and cool 
but visibility is very good and through our glasses I can easily 
make out the ruins of Auberive-sur-Suippe, a small French 
village which now lies in the middle of ‘No Man’s Land’. Our 
O.P. here is the visual signaling station for the French in this 
vicinity so our view from here is very good. We are directly 
behind the first line trenches, nevertheless the country all 
around us is completely cut up with trenches and everything 
is camouflaged to an extreme. Observation planes are very 
active around here, both German and French, so naturally we 
see quite a few good air battles every once in a while. Shells 
burst all around us nearly all the time but only occasionally 
do they burst close enough to make us duck. 


118 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


July 10, 1918:—We slept pretty cool last night after the 
rain, and about 1 :30 a.m. a great deal of artillery activity 
started, but we turned over, went to sleep and let things de¬ 
velop. Either the French or the Germans started a raid, but 
we have not heard just how it came out. Bill [Bruning] and 
I went out to check the work that we did last night and to our 
suprise we found that the French had numbered some of their 
stakes wrong so we went over them and changed our ‘dope’ 
accordingly. Perry [Lesh] was up when we got back but 
was in a pitiful condition; he had tried to dry his undercloth¬ 
ing and had burnt one leg of it all the way out but he had 
to put it on as none of us had an extra suit to give him. 
He will wear this suit of underclothing until we have another 
issue of clothes back in some rest camp. Sgt. Bruning and I 
had just started for the O.P. when Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff and 
Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter came out. They looked around 
for a little while and then started back. Bill and I then 
started to locate different points in the German lines so that 
when asked about different things we could answer intelli¬ 
gently. When we got to the O.P. this morning the French 
were just eating their breakfasts; they sure live a soft life 
and its no wonder they can’t win a war. Bill and I worked 
until about 12:30 and then Perry came up to relieve us. B 
Battery is also establishing a camp up here and they will ob¬ 
serve from the same O.P., but they will take care of only the 
territory that their battery has to cover. I stayed up until 
9:00 writing letters and writing up my diary, and then it got 
too dark for me to do any good so I stopped and went to bed. 
Just after I got in bed the artillery started and they fired back 
and forth for about two hours, but I slept just the same. 

July 11, 1918:—Immediately after breakfast Bruning and 
I went up to the O.P. where I started to work on a sector 
sketch; I worked on it until noon and it certainly was a hard 
job because the country is so very flat and there are so many 
false crests. Civilians evacuated this village only four days 
ago so one can readily see that something is to be expected 
pretty soon. ‘Pete’ [Clift] gave us some pleasant news to¬ 
day from a French Lieut, who had visited there during our 
absence. The French Lieut, said that we would have to put 
up a screen of camouflage in front of our camp and also that 
we would have to water our horses by bucket as we were di- 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


119 


rectly in view of the Germans. Some of these ‘Frogs’ are 
afraid of their own shadows. The French are changing re¬ 
liefs tonight in the front lines so we will certainly not get 
by without a barrage of some sort. After I got in bed I could 
hear quite a few partridges calling and it certainly did sound 
good. This life is great stuff right now but I don’t suppose 
it will last long. 

July 12, 1918:—This morning immediately after breakfast 
I went up to the O.P. to finish my sketch. While I was work¬ 
ing at my sketch Major Guy A. Wainwright came up and 
hung around for awhile but he didn’t have a great deal to say. 
At 11:30 Pete [Clift] came up to the O.P. and I went back in 
to camp, and then Perry [Lesh] who had been in camp all 
morning went up to the O.P.; we always have to arrange to 
have someone at the camp or these ‘Frogs’ will steal all we 
have. During the latter part of the afternoon I labeled my 
sketch and tomorrow I will go in to the battery position where 
Moorman will make a tracing of it. It will then be taken to 
divisional headquarters. This sketch is of importance because 
it was used as a check against French maps that had been 
made immediately following the outbreak of the war. 

July 13, 1918:—This morning immediately after breakfast 
I started in to the battery position, and on my way I got lost 
and did not get there until 10:00 a.m. I went down to the 
Captain’s dug-out where I got ink, pens and tracing paper, 
called [Carl] Moorman at the echelon and by 11:00 he had 
started on the tracing. I worked on the tracing for a little 
while after evening mess and about 7:00 I finished it up and 
took it down to the Captain who was very well satisfied with 
it. About 6:30 I started back to the camp and arrived there 
about 8:10, and then sat down to talk to some French soldiers 
who were there visiting the fellows. In the ruins of this old 
farm barn there is a group of about eight French soldiers 
who stay there all the time as they are the cooks for an in¬ 
fantry out-fit up in the front lines. These fellows cook the 
food and then it is carried through the trenches up to the 
front lines to the men. They are very pleasant and they 
often come over to visit us; we always trade them sugar, cof¬ 
fee, etc. for canteens full of Vin Rouge. They also told us 
that during last night very many Germans came in as rein- 


120 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


forcements and that the Germans had taken up all of their 
barbed wire preparatory to a big drive on this front. Artil¬ 
lery fire has already started for the night but not enough to 
keep us from going to bed or worrying about it. 

July 14, 1918:—All night long there was terrific artillery 
fire and we only slept at intervals, some of the shells lit quite 
close to us but none of them so close that we had to get up and 
get out of the way. I suppose the closest one was about one 
hundred feet from us. All kinds of signal rockets, flashes 
from guns and the bursting of shells we could see directly in 
front of us, in fact between us and the O.P. We all got up 
at 7:30 because there was too much firing for one to sleep. 
Immediately after breakfast I went up to the O.P. where I 
stayed until noon and then I came in after something to eat. 
When I arrived at the camp the boys had a fine meal ready, 
it being Sunday they tried to see what a fine meal they could 
make up. We had mashed potatoes, creamed peas, (Brun- 
ing bought these canned goods at a French canteen as our 
own Y.M.C.A.s up here are a perfect failure) fried steak, 
fried bread, sugar, coffee, milk, jam, bread and butter. About 
2:00 P.M. Perry [Lesh] phoned down that there was activity 
in the German lines and Bruning has now taken the maps 
and gone up to the O.P. About 5:30 Perry and Bruning 
came in and reported that the activity in the German lines 
was growing more and more as evening came on. The Ger¬ 
man territory behind the front lines is nothing but great hills 
of chalk, and over these hills of chalk one can see the narrow 
roads leading to the front. This is where all of the activity 
could be seen; such things as caissons and pieces being drawn 
toward the front, German troops even four abreast marching 
down toward the front and wagon after wagon load of am¬ 
munition moving along. Against this white chalk it seemed 
like so many worms were winding down toward us. We are 
absolutely sure now that before long the party will start but 
of all the reports we send in there doesn’t seem to be any¬ 
thing done. After we had eaten our evening meal, talked a 
little, smoked a little, and gotten the camp in readiness for 
a quick move we all went to bed. I slept only off and on for 
some reason, and I could not, no matter how hard I would try, 
make myself drop into a sound sleep so I sat up in my bed, 
took a cigarette out of my shirt pocket (we decided to sleep 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


121 


in most of our clothes so that we could get out if necessary) 
and leaned up against a tree that is right at the head of our 
bunks and started to smoke. Artillery fire had been very 
heavy during the early part of the evening but by this time 
(11:00) it had very nearly ceased altogether, it was com¬ 
paratively quiet all over and nothing seemed to be brewing. I 
sat there until about 12:30 smoking and thinking of home, 
and then I heard a shell whizz close, in fact very close, but 
on the other side of the tree from me so I stayed sitting, wait¬ 
ing for the shell to burst. To my surprise it did not, I heard 
it thump into the ground so I just said, “Dud” to myself and 
forgot it. It was not long though before another came and 
this one closer than before and strange, it behaved like the 
one before had so I passed it up. In spite of the two “Duds” 
I listened for them from then on and it was but a very short 
while before along came another which was not a “Dud” and 
another and still another, good ones too and getting mighty 
close so I awakened Bruning. Perry [Lesh] and Pete 
[Clarence E. Clift] were fast asleep in their own tent and it 
did not take us long to wake them. Perry rolled over and 
said “Let ’em come” but we got him out and made him put 
on his clothes, the ones with the leg burnt all the way off. 
The shells then started to come thick and fast and I want 
to say we certainly dressed in a hurry; while we were dress¬ 
ing Lieut. Vallandingham from the B Battery post came over 
to use our phone and by the time he had finished shells were 
lighting on all sides of us and things were in more of an 
uproar than I had ever heard before, it seemed as though 
the front for thirty miles each way had opened up and every 
gun was firing. It was as light as daytime, and the ground 
directly in front of us, and to the side of us, and behind us 
was a mass of flames and whistling steel from the bursting 
shells. The German drive was on. Every once in a while 
above the burst of the shells one could hear some one yell at 
a comrade or someone yell from a wound, but not a soul could 
be seen, nothing but the bursting of shells, the flash of rifles, 
the pep-pep-pep- of machine guns and the general roar of 
the whole front. Pete and I ran over to a little grove of trees 
where our horses were tied, got them and hurried out to the 
road; there we ran into Brown of B Battery in stocking feet 
and no shirt, holding or rather trying to hold, four horses, 


122 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


and at that one of the horses he had belonged to us, so we 
made the trade in a hurry and Pete and I tied our horses to 
a large post supporting the camouflage at the turn in the 
road and then started back to our little camp for our junk. 
By the time Pete and I got back to the camp the Germans 
had gotten enough gas over so that we had to put on our gas 
masks. We all started to take down the tents and make our 
blanket rolls, in my roll I managed to put a pair of shoes 
and a suit of underclothing, the rest of my junk I lost. We 
then went out to saddle our horses and B Battery’s men were 
out in the middle of the road trying to saddle up, but with¬ 
out much luck, and some Frenchmen were running wildly up 
and down the road. I had my blanket on my horse and was 
just going to adjust my saddle when a, shell burst within a 
hundred feet of me, my horse jumped and sent me sprawling 
into the road and when I got back to him I found that my 
saddle was gone so I had to grope around in the road and in 
the ditch to the side of the road before I found it. I put 
the blanket back on the horse, then put the saddle on and 
was just tightening the cinch when a shell lit so close it 
deafened me; my horse jumped again, and again I went 
sprawling into the road. My gas mask came off and I lit 
on my face, scratching it severely. I immediately put my 
mask back on and started another hunt for my saddle. I 
made several circles around and across the road on my hands 
and knees, I could not see, I had to feel, because I had never 
put any anti-dim on the glasses of my mask and they were 
steamed so badly that it was like having no eyes. After about 
five minutes, which seemed like at least a half hour, I found 
the saddle and this time my attempt was successful and I 
got him saddled. I then went back after my saddle bags 
and the rest of my junk and when I got back to the horses I 
found Perry [Lesh] there with no mask on saddling his horse. 
I immediately asked him whether there was any more gas and 
he said, “Not very much”, so off came my mask but to my 
surprise the air was so full that I could hardly get my breath. 
Perry had merely gotten used to it and was breathing it with¬ 
out knowing how strong it was. I told him that he had bet¬ 
ter put his mask back on and immediately put mine on. Brun- 
ing and Pete [Clarence E. Clift] then came up and finally the 
four of us saddled and were ready to go, but we took one last 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


123 


trip back to the camp to get everything that we could carry. 
We destroyed all of the maps and things that might have 
been of value to the Germans. We got the scissors, the aim¬ 
ing circle, the two telephones and all of the field glasses, be¬ 
sides a very great deal of other junk, all on our backs and 
then went for our horses, all of this time we had our gas masks 
on. Perry had no bridle for his horse as I had lost it for him, 
so Bruning got on one side of him, Pete on the other, and 
I rode directly in front and we started down the road toward 
fort St. Hilaire on a gallop. The road was swarmed with 
French infantry and the ditches to the side of the road were 
filled with French machine gun men ready to fire when the 
Germans came over. We soon had to drop down to a walk 
with our horses to keep from running over the French sol¬ 
diers in the road, and then too, at about every ten steps a 
French guard would point his gun in our faces and yell 
“American, American” and we would have to give a hurried 
answer in French, because they did not know but that we were 
German cavalry coming through and a prompt answer meant 
a very great deal to us then. Red, green, white and blue 
rockets, yellow smoke shells, three star shells and all kind of 
signals that one could imagine could be seen in the air. The 
sky was red, green, blue, pink and all colors of the rainbow; 
fires broke out on all sides of us and powder dumps were ex¬ 
ploding so fast that walls of lighted smoke was all that could 
be seen. As far as one could see for fully twenty miles the 
front seemed to have broken loose with every implement of 
war that has ever been used. Things were just simply one 
deafening roar. All French and American artillery were 
firing. Our masks we kept on and as a result we took the 
wrong road and were walking right into the fort St. Hilaire 
which was one of the centers of German fire in that district. 
I took my mask off and we turned back to the right road 
and continued on, but the shells still came as fast as ever; 
we were continually ducking from one side of our horses to 
the other using them for protection as the high explosives 
burst on the opposite side. We turned off the main road just 
beyond fort St. Hilaire and fortunately we lost the road again, 
and at 2:45 A.M. we arrived in the big woods far to the left 
of our battery and behind it. It was lucky that we did lose 
the road this last time because American re-inforcements 


124 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


were being rushed up the road we usually take, and they say 
that it was completely torn up. When we got to the battery 
all of the boys were wild, they were so busy, both gun squads 
were working, one squad manning the guns as the other squad 
carried ammunition to it. It was 2:45 A.M. but as light as 
any day could be from all of the firing. One of B Battery’s 
guns had blown up and had killed two men so they were firing 
with only three guns. Our big sausage balloon was up di¬ 
rectly behind the battery. July 14th the French Independence 
Day! And one I shall never forget! 

July 15th, 1918:—Bruning stayed out at the guns, Perry, 
Pete and I went in to the echelon and took Bruning’s horse 
in with us. Everybody at the echelon was up, wagons were 
loaded and horses were harnessed ready to leave with as much 
equipment as was possible to get away with. I found an 
empty pup-tent and prepared for a little nap while the rest 
of the boys watched. [Leslie H.] Coleman was the man who 
was on the switch board when the Captain told us to fall back. 
We could not understand the Captain so Coleman transmitted 
the message to us and not one minute later the line was blown 
to pieces. Before I lay down I took a look over the front and 
it looked just like a fire about two or three miles wide and as 
long and far as my eye could reach. At 5:00 our battery 
was firing on the village of Auberive which showed that the 
Germans had advanced about two kilometers, and at 7:00 we 
were firing on the old Roman Road, the road that we went 
along when we left the camp going toward Fort St. Hilaire. 
The Germans have also moved their artillery up and are now 
dropping them right around our battery position. The noise 
now is so terrific that one can hardly hear what is being said. 
I had no more than gone to sleep when Bruning came and 
told us that we would have to go back up to the old O.P. and 
do observation work from there. So back we went to the 
old O.P. but we could see hardly nothing because the smoke 
was so heavy. During the morning the echelon was moved to 
a different woods because the shells were getting too close. 
Our battery was firing just over our heads and B Battery 
was firing just to the right of us and the noise and smoke was 
certainly terrific; from our old O.P. we could see Fort St. 
Hilaire which was completely wrecked, but still held by the 
French. There is a first aid station directly behind our O.P. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


125 


and French soldiers are being brought in very fast, some of 
them are pretty well chopped up while others are able to 
walk in with their wounds. I have also noticed that they 
are bringing the dead back from the front, nearly all of them 
strapped to an empty caisson, but I have not seen them bring¬ 
ing in any Americans. Just a few minutes ago I saw a Boche 
plane fall in flames but that does not mean that the Boche 
are fighting a losing air fight because they certainly have con¬ 
trol of the air all around here. There are fully three hun¬ 
dred planes up close to here right now and I’ll warrant two 
thirds of them are Boche. I made two trips back to the 
echelon this morning, one for telephone wire as our line to 
the battery was continually going out and the other time to 
take the horses back as the shells were getting a little too 
close. While I was gone with the horses Bill [Bruning], 
Perry [Lesh] and [Clarence E.] Trotter had a few thrills; 
three 210 shells burst within fifty feet of them and they were 
simply showered with dirt and stone. When I started back 
I got as far as the guns where I had to wait for the firing 
to let up a little because they were continually bursting be¬ 
tween the battery and the O.P. But as things seemed to get 
tame only once in a while I started on and I had to lie down 
seven times before I got to the O.P. because shells lit so close 
to me. At 12:00 Lieut. Trotter and I went down to noon mess 
and on our way back to the O.P. we saw two more planes 
fall in flames; this is certainly more fire than I have ever 
been under before. This afternoon has been very very quiet, 
the weather very hot which is sure hard on the wounded lying 
in the field, there is however quite a great deal of aerial activ¬ 
ity. Bruning, Perry and Pete have just started back up to 
our forward O.P. to see whether or not they can get some of 
the stuff we left up there last night. Many soldiers are pass¬ 
ing here now most of them having been lost from their outfits 
during the heated engagements of the night and some of them 
just simply having a yellow streak and getting away from 
the front. The report is that the French losses are terrific 
but that the German losses are even more. These French 
with the aid of the Americans have certainly held wonder¬ 
fully well. We expect a very great deal of fighting tonight, 
probably another big attack from the Germans. It is now 
5:50 and visibility is fine as is always the case about this time 


126 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


of the day when all of the heat waves do not make the view 
blurred through the glasses. We can see the shells bursting 
right where the infantry is fighting and we can also see the 
smoking ruins of several little villages which are quite close 
to the front, Fort St. Hilaire is very plain and we can see 
the French working about it probably taking care of wounded 
or preparing men for the front tonight. We stayed at the 
O.P. until 8:30 when it got too dark for us to see any more 
and we went in and went to bed. The echelon had been moved 
to the place where we had first been as they thought the other 
woods had been located by aeroplane. 

July 16, 1918:—This morning when we got up there was a 
great deal of artillery dueling so as soon as we had eaten our 
breakfasts we went on up to the O.P. Lieut. [Clarence E.] 
Trotter was with us all day long and we saw a great deal of 
activity up on the front, firing kept up all day long. They 
say that all along the 88 kilometer front the Germans were 
repulsed with very great losses, the American army is said 
to have done wonderful work; the Alabama ‘doughboys' hav¬ 
ing shown up above all the rest. Bruning was telling me 
about the little trip yesterday afternoon to the old O.P. He 
found the little French cook who traded us wine for food 
while we were at St. Hilaire farm, lying where we had tied 
our horses when we left so hurriedly. He had one limb com¬ 
pletely gone and was just waiting for someone to take him 
to a first aid station, ambulances could not get up that far 
as shell fire was too heavy and wounded had to be littered off 
the field. That was just one instance, and there were a thou¬ 
sand more in the same plight in our immediate vicinity. Bill 
[Sgt. Bruning] said that it would have been no job at all to 
count at least five hundred dead within a half mile from 
where they were. The expected onslaught did not come last 
night and today a tank attack was expected but thus far noth¬ 
ing has happened. I saw a great number of dead being hauled 
past the O.P. and it seems very strange that none of them 
are Americans, but I suppose they are taking the Americans 
out a different way so that the American soldiers can not see 
how many really were killed. By noon the front lines were 
so covered with smoke that we could not see a thing except 
our own men taking up ammunition, etc. A great many 
planes were up from about 5:00 p.m. on, and we stayed at the 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


127 


O.P. until about 8:00 and then came in and went to bed. The 
anti-aircraft guns started to fire just after I got in bed and 
they have been firing for about an hour now. I can hear 
the German planes and there must be quite a few of them 
up. Back at Chalons there are a great number of eight and 
fourteen inch guns that have been firing for the past few days, 
almost continually. 

July 17, 1918:—This morning Bruning [Sgt. Bruning], 
Pete [Clarence E. Clift] and Perry [Lesh] went up to the 
O.P. and I stayed at the echelon until about 8:00 when I went 
to water with the rest of the drivers. Then I started back 
to the O.P., and on the way I stopped at the guns and took the 
head to the scope along with me. Perry then came back to the 
guns to rest and the Captain [Sidney S. Miller], Bruning and 
Pete went on up to the forward O.P. with the scissors. When 
they returned they said that the French that they had seen 
the day before lying in the road were still there and that 
ambulances were just getting up into that part of the battle 
field. Sgt. Brown of B Battery who was chased from Farm 
St. Hilaire at the same time we were, has not turned up yet, 
he is reported missing. 

July 18, 1918:—Last night it started to rain about 12:00 
and it certainly did pour down until about 2:00, then it cleared 
up and by morning the sun was out bright. About 4:30 A.M. 
they got Sgt. Bruning and I out of bed and told us that we 
were to report to the O.P. We could see the trouble imme¬ 
diately, the Germans were putting terrific fire on the old ruins 
of Fort St. Hilaire. Bruning and I stayed at the O.P. until 
breakfast time when Perry [Lesh] came up to give us relief, 
so both of us went down and had breakfast. By ten o’clock 
the firing had ceased considerably and there was only casual 
firing during the rest of the day. We stayed at the O.P. all 
day long nevertheless. After Bruning and I had gotten back 
from mess Perry went down and had something to eat and 
then came back up. During the afternoon Capt. [Humphrey 
A.] Barbour and one of his Lieutenant’s came up to our O.P. 
to look around for awhile. We also found out that Sgt. Brown 
of B Battery had been killed; 1 he had been all the way back 
to the battery and then had gone back up to the O.P. where 

1 Otis E. Brown, Indianapolis, was killed in action in this battle at St. Hilaire, 
July 18, 1918, 


128 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


he got in some very heavy shelling and was hit in the head 
with a flying fragment. He had dismounted and had gotten 
into a shallow trench but was not low enough when a 77 came 
over. I have noticed here in the past few days that there are 
a very great number of Poles far back of the lines and the 
report is that they are deserting. 

July 19, 1918:—Sgt. [Richard M.] Bosson had started out 
early this morning to take in the old wire from the O.P. but 
was immediately called in, Sgt. Bruning, Perry [Lesh] and 
Pete [Clarence E. Clift] were called in from the O.P. and in 
less than an hour the battery was ready to pull out. There 
were very many French and German planes and balloons up, 
but nevertheless the guns were pulled out in broad day light, 
the weather being fine. The whole battery fed the horses 
and ate noon mess and at 1:80 we pulled out; Bruning, Pete 
and I went ahead and led the way, Perry started toward 
Suippes and from Suippes he will continue toward Chalons 
where our third piece had been taken for repairs; he will then 
lead them to where we are going. We went across country 
for about five miles and then hit a main road and continued 
on until about 2:80 when we arrived at “Camp de Carrie” 
where we have put up for the night at least. I went to head 
off [Harold] Roberts, Perry Lesh, and Lt. Stevenson, with 
the third piece, and when it finally came we started on back 
to the new echelon where we arrived just about dark. On 
the way back ‘Pop’ [Harold K.] Roberts told Perry [Lesh] 
and me all about the few days he had spent in Chalons; 
Chalons had been bombed last night and the big Bank of 
France was blown up. On our way to the echelon we saw a 
German plane come over, make a real low sweep and drop a 
bomb. We could actually see the bomb drop and directly into 
a French ammunition dump it went; that certainly was a 
sight, for the explosion of the dump shook the ground all 
around and it threw debris fully three hundred feet in a 
straight column into the air. From all the ‘dope’ that we can 
get we are to go up near Rheims and help in the Allied drive 
which has now started in that sector. Americans are now 
top-notchers with the French because they did such very good 
work. I also saw a woman today, the first one I have seen 
since I left Somme Vesle. Also saw quite a few German 
planes and balloons come down in flames today. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


129 


July 20, 1918:—The weather has certainly been fine and 
the boys are sure feeling better this morning, our food is also 
getting better now. After mess Sgts. [Bryant W.] Gillespie, 
[Wilbur B.] Morgan, [Paul W.] Mulikin, [Byron C.] Young, 
[John M.] Skidmore and I rode bare-back to a creek which 
was about two miles from our camp and went swimming, the 
water was actually ice cold and it certainly took a great deal 
of nerve to get in it, but it has sure put the ‘pep’ in us. 


9—22902 


CHAPTER VII 
The Chateau Thierry Front 

July 21, 1918:—This morning when we got up it was rain¬ 
ing and very miserable; I had lost my rain coat the night we 
vacated Farm St. Hilaire, so I had to steal another one. At 
8:00 the assembly call blew and the battery was lined up and 
told to prepare to move out immediately. We fed and watered 
the horses, ate our own mess and at 1:30 the battery pulled 
out. Sgt. Bruning, [Carl] Moorman and I stayed behind to 
travel with the battalion train; [Farrell E.] Potter and 
[Joseph L.] Simms have taken some condemned horses to a 
little village where they will be disposed of. During the after¬ 
noon I had nothing to do so I read for a little, slept for a while 
and at 5:00 I took my horse to water, fed him and then went 
for my own mess. We had jam, hard-tack and ‘corned willie' 
for evening mess, fact is we have had nothing but ‘corned 
willie’ since we have been in this camp. At 7:30 we harnessed 
and at 8:00 we pulled out arriving at Chalons about 10:00, 
and just at the time the Germans were carrying on a beauti¬ 
ful air raid. Anti-aircraft and machine guns were firing 
freely, a few bombs dropped while we were passing through, 
but none of them close enough to do any damage; all of the 
buildings were simply spitting fire as all of them were 
mounted with machine guns and the noise was pretty annoy¬ 
ing. We loaded our train at the same platform that we had 
unloaded from, when we came into this sector; and when the 
train was fully loaded and ready to pull out all of our bunch 
went to bed. 

July 22, 1918:—I was fast asleep when our train pulled out 
last night but I know that we left about 3:00. We are again 
in box cars as per usual, but satisfied. We got up about 9:00, 
ate bread and ‘corned willie’ for breakfast and then sat down 
in the car door to see the country that we are passing through. 
We just went through Troyes and it is now 2:30 and we do 
not know where we are bound for except that it is to a differ¬ 
ent front all together and not very far, but we believe for the 
Chateau Thierry front. At 4:00 P.M. we pulled into the out- 


( 130 ) 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


131 


skirts of Paris and made a stop of about fifteen minutes. All 
of the French people seemed very glad to see us and we had 
a lot of fun trying to talk to them. When we pulled out we 
took the high country to the east of Paris and could see a very 
great deal of the city, also Eiffel Tower which loomed up far 
above all the rest of the city. While passing along we could 
see into some of the streets and I believe I saw the first street 
cars since I have been in France. The buildings seem to be 
very much better built and the country itself seems to be 
very much cleaner than that we have been in. After it got 
so dark that we could no longer see anything of interest we 
all went to bed. [Lawrence E.] Kunkler and a few of the 
other fellows were up on top of our box car waving at the 
good looking girls and a low wire caught Kunkler under the 
chin and just about ruined him so he came on down and went 
to bed. Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter came down to our car 
just after we had gotten out of Paris and made another stop 
and said that we would detrain about two hours after we 
pulled out again. Naturally we all got up again, packed our 
junk and then lay down again and slept until 3:30 when we 
pulled up to an unloading platform at the little village of Lizy. 
The train was immediately unloaded and we started on a 
hike to somewhere, we do not know where, other than that we 
are near the Chateau Thierry front. 

July 23, 1918:—Daylight found us still on the road, sleepy, 
hungry, tired and traveling in a pretty fair breeze full of cold 
drizzly rain,—far from comfortable. We arrived at the vil¬ 
lage of Dhuisy about 6:00, pulled into a large court yard in 
which the whole first battalion was quartered. This is a court 
yard and stables belonging to some French estate and there 
are about fifteen great large barns, and just across the road 
is the big home now evacuated by the people but occupied 
at the present time by our Colonel; by the way, our boys are 
not even allowed to walk through the front yard of our Colo¬ 
nel’s play-house. Our battery had arrived here at 2:30 and 
were still in bed when we pulled in, so after we had watered 
and fed our horses we made our bunks in the loft of one of 
these big barns and then went down after our breakfast, 
which was the first warm food we had had since we had 
started. At 5:00 the horses were again taken to water, fed 
and then the men were dismissed to go to mess??? ‘corned 


132 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


willie , and hard-tack again, we have had nothing but that 
since we first went on the Champagne front and the men are 
even more disgusted than they ever were before. Work all 

the time and nothing but this d- ‘corned willie’ to eat,— 

in fact some of the fellows are talking of just simply quitting 
until they give us some better food. Boys back in the S.O.S. 
can get just about anything they want to eat, if not from 
their out-fits, from the Y.M.C.A., and the fellows up doing 
the real work don’t get even a smell at the Y.Ms. There are 
about seven of our fellows who are going out on a stealing 
expedition tonight and I know they’ll come in with some food. 

July 24, 1918:—Well today is my day for someone to feel 
sorry for me. I have been in the army one year today and I’ll 
say it’ll certainly be one birthday minus a celebration. Had 
fifteen minutes longer for mess this noon, I suppose it was for 
my birthday? and then we washed harness and materiel until 
4:30, after which we went to stables, and believe me the boys 
are simply yelling for the front. They always want the front 
in preference to a so-called rest camp. After evening mess 
we had a dog-tag inspection and then we went to water again; 
after I had eaten evening mess it was nearly dusk so I went 
out to steal some food. I finally got into the Colonel’s back 
yard where I found a garden full of carrots and I filled my 
pockets, I then went out on the road, sat down on a stone cul¬ 
vert and proceeded to eat all the carrots that I could hold. I 
finally got my fill and then I went in and went to bed. 

July 25, 1918:—This morning at reveille formation Lieut. 
[Clarence E.] Trotter told us that we were going to move and 
after we had fed and watered the horses and had our own 
mess we packed our junk and got ready to move out. Con¬ 
gressman [Oscar E.] Bland, Linton, Ind. paid the battery a 
visit today; he looked over all of the materiel and talked a 
little to some of the boys, and at 8:30 watched the whole regi¬ 
ment pull out toward the Chateau Thierry front. We went 
through some very beautiful country and enjoyed the sights of 
war until we got within about four kilometers of Chateau 
Thierry and then the looks of things changed quite a bit. Vil¬ 
lages that before had probably been some of the most pic¬ 
turesque in France were now complete ruins, and in fact 
nearly impassable. French were clearing away the debris 
and Americans were going through in one unending column 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


138 


toward the front. Many, many dead Germans were lying 
about; some of them only blue skin stretched over bones and 
others only half buried having been uncovered by bursting 
shells. As we went through Vaux I saw several graves, some 
with a foot sticking out, and others with even the heads stick¬ 
ing out; they seemed to have been thrown in these graves any 
way and in an awful hurry. Rifles, clothes, helmets, bay¬ 
onets and anything one could think of were lying around 
over the surrounding country. Great woods that had once 
been green and beautiful were leveled to the ground and the 
dead leaves were black from the effects of the gas. In the 
ruins of some of the houses one could see table cloths still 
on the tables, buildings half chopped off, and beds all made 
hanging out of them, automobiles, wagons, dead horses and 
anything one could imagine could be found in the streets, and 
the stench from the dead was nearly unbearable, all left by 
the civilians as they fell from the heat of the battle. We 
could look anywhere and see dead soldiers who had hailed 
from nearly any nation, aeroplanes and wagons could be seen 
all over the fields which were simply plowed up from the ef¬ 
fects of shell fire. We then drove into the city of Chateau 
Thierry where all of the batteries of our regiment stopped 
to feed the horses and have mess; this place is not so shot 
up as those we just passed through but those first towns were 
right in the middle of 'No Man’s Land’. It is bad enough 
though and all of the bridges are down over the Marne River 
and the town itself is in a sad plight. After I had eaten 
my noon mess I went with the rest of the battery details far 
ahead so that we could establish communication and act as 
markers for the batteries as they came up. American planes 
are flying all around here and only an occasional shot can be 
heard. They say that the Germans retreated in terrible dis¬ 
order but with speed, in fact with so much speed that they 
left anything from their helmets to a ten inch gun behind. I 
stopped to look at one grave that happened to have a cross 
at the head, a German grave, Gerrald—something, I could 
not read the name and the left foot was sticking out of the 
grave. We located the echelon in a very big woods and now 
I am waiting for the battery to pull up so that I can tell them 
where to pull in. This woods seems to have been the abode 
of the whole German army because it is all full of dug-outs 
fixed up with anything from white iron beds to bath tubs and 


134 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


the rooms wall papered, many dead horses and men are now 
scattered throughout it. The rest of the detail have gone 
ahead with the Captain to locate our gun position. While 
waiting for the battery I saw one wonderful air battle; a 
Boche plane brought down an American plane and about 
twenty seconds later an American plane brought down this 
same Boche plane. Another Boche plane brought down one 
of our big sausage balloons. The battery pulled in at 6:00 
and I showed them just where to go, and at 7:00 the guns 
were taken up into position. The telephone detail had al¬ 
ready strung wire from the echelon to the gun position and 
Perry [Lesh] and Sgt. Bruning did not come in until 6:00 
in the morning because they had gotten in a very great deal 
of shell fire and gas. At 2:00 in the morning the guns were 
brought back to the echelon because they had been put in the 
wrong place, they were even up in front of the 75s. 

July 26, 1918:—I stayed at the echelon all night so [George 
A.] Aurine and I pitched a pup-tent and went to bed about 
11:00. I did not get up until 8:00 because we have no calls 
while on the front, fed my horse and then went after my own 
breakfast. Immediately after breakfast the telephone detail 
took up all the wire they had laid yesterday because we are 
to take up a position much farther in advance of the one we 
had located yesterday, as the Germans have retreated a little 
farther. Sgt. Bruning and I took a little walk through this 
woods, and it is so full of dug-outs that one must even be 
careful where one steps. This woods is simply full of Ger¬ 
man and American dead and the stench is very, very bad, 
naturally drinking water is at a premium around here. Di¬ 
rectly after mess Capts. [Sidney S.] Miller and [Humphrey 
A.] Barbour of A and B Batteries, with their details and all 
of their equipment, started up to locate a new position. Brun¬ 
ing and I laid out the gun position which is right along with 
the 75s, while [Fred W.] Turner and a few more of the tele¬ 
phone men put up the night aiming posts. The Iowa and 
the Alabama ‘doughboys’ went through toward the front this 
afternoon to relieve the infantry now on the front; as this 
infantry was nearly shot to pieces when caught under some 
very severe shell fire, in fact one battalion of them were very 
nearly annihilated. The guns came in at 9:00 and the whole 
battery came up as far as the position with them, because 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


135 


tonight one of the biggest drives of the war is to come off and 
our whole battery is to advance with them. There has been 
practically no aerial activity because it has been raining at 
intervals but we put camouflage up over the guns just the 
same. Just after we got the camouflage up the order came 
down that we were to pull out and we took the camouflage 
down again and just as we were taking it down the order came 
down that the big drive was off, so we put it back up where 
I hope it stays for ten minutes at least. There are very many 
gas alarms being sounded close here, but I haven’t had a smell 
of any gas yet, guns are cracking all around and noise, I never 
heard so much; we seem to be right in the middle of it. There 
is a first aid station in an old stone building close by here and 
it is just packed with wounded, there is no ambulance service 
because things are in so much disorder. The cannoneers are 
out by the pieces and it is raining very hard, making it far 
from comfortable for them because they have no shelter. I 
have been out there with them for the past few hours and 
now I am soaked to the skin, the rest of the battery have gone 
back to the old echelon. I am now in the old stone building 
above the first aid station which is the Captain’s P.C. 

July 27, 1918:—This morning we all got up in time for 
breakfast which the ration cart brought out. It was still 
raining and very miserable. We slept cold last night but we 
have no kick coming because the cannoneers were out in the 
rain all night and did not get to sleep a bit. Artillery duel¬ 
ing went on all night. After breakfast I saddled up and 
started back to our old echelon, but I had an awful time find¬ 
ing it because they had moved to a woods about a half mile 
in advance of where they had been. I finally found them 

however and I immediately got Lieut.-Stevenson to 

give me a horse and cart harness along with a driver Scotty 
[Paul J. Scott]. I then went back to the old echelon where 
I had seen some good two-wheeled carts (German) ; I am go¬ 
ing to take one of these to use as an instrument cart. Scotty 
and I brought it back to the echelon where I left it for a few 
repairs. While we were riding along the road I noticed that 
Red Cross stations had been established at regular intervals 
and they were just simply crowded to the limit with wounded; 
they were even lying on the outside under tarpaulins wait¬ 
ing to be taken care of. I saw many wounded men walking 



136 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


back to the first aid stations covered with so many bandages 
that I don’t see how they ever got along. Out in the fields 
squads of American soldiers could be seen burying the dead, 
and as I went along every once in a while I would get the 
smell of soldiers, dead too long and not buried. I went up 
to our room where I found some German shoe grease lying 
on the floor, so I doped up my shoes then took a good wash 
and shave, repacked my saddle bags and cleaned up the room. 
When I came down stairs I peeped into the first aid room and 
I noticed that the wounded are still coming in pretty fast; 
after they are taken care of at the first aid they are either 
taken back in ambulances or they walk back, if they can by 
themselves. I then took a walk out to the gun position; the 
boys have the camouflage up over the guns again and they 
seem to be pretty comfortable, the sun is shining at present. 
While out there I talked to several Iowa and Alabama ‘dough¬ 
boys’ who were coming back with minor injuries and they say 
that their infantry has been pretty well shot up during the 
past few days of fighting. Artillery dueling has been continu¬ 
ous and heavy on both sides but the Germans are retreating 
all the time, because all French and American artillery are 
moving forward. About 3:00 P.M. the Captain [Sidney S. 
Miller], Sgt. Bruning and I went to look for a forward posi¬ 
tion and while we were gone the order came down to be ready 
to move at a moment’s notice, so everything was packed. 
[Charles J.] Hoover who had been assigned to our detail was 
sent back to the echelon with an order; he had been gone 
about fifteen minutes when I was sent to follow him with a 
countermand, and after me came [Latham M.] Connell with 
a countermand to my order. Part of the detail went in ad¬ 
vance with the Captain and Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter and 
Perry [Lesh] and I went in advance of the battery; we ran 
into the Captain and Lieut. Trotter far up in advance, prob¬ 
ably four miles, and we immediately started to locate the gun 
position with the instruments. Bruning had taken the cart 
I had found and it certainly helps out in getting our instru¬ 
ments around. We then went through the town of Beuvardes 
too; which had only been evacuated early yesterday and it 
was a sight, nothing but death and destruction. Some of the 
cannoneers even had to come and clean the road for the pieces 
to get through. Most of the buildings were still burning, 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


137 


buildings were caving in and explosions could be heard 
throughout the town, all of the dead Americans had been taken 
away, but German dead were still lying about the street, 
some of them hanging out of windows, some of them with 
their feet upon the side walks and their heads in the gutters, 
others swelled up so that their clothes were simply cutting 
them through, and black and blue, all over from the effects 
of the gas. Helmets were still on their heads, in fact they 
dropped there with everything they owned and the stench 
was so sickening that many of the boys got sick. [Clarence 
E.] Trotter went up into a little stone house to figure some 
firing data. The infantry men have been calling for barrages 
from the moment we arrived here. There has been however, 
a great deal of artillery firing from the American and French, 
but there has been very little fire from the German side. 
Pete [Clift] and I lay down in my pup-tent until about 12:30 
when Major [Guy M.] Wainwright came up to the position 
to tell us where his P.C. would be, and where we should string 
our communication. Pete and I located our position in the 
dark with the aid of matches and small electric lights and Bill 
[Sgt. Bruning] and I ran the locating traverse at the same 
time. After that was done I went out to the road to watch 
for the battery as they came along, pieces, caissons and four- 
gon will come up, the rest of the battery will remain in a rear 
echelon. 

July 28, 1918:—When the fourgon arrived Sgt. [Richard 
M.] Bosson took some of his men and put up the night aiming 
posts while I took the rest of his men and strung wire from 
our telephone central to the guns. By the time I had gotten 
the line in, the battery was ready to fire and the ammunition 
was there; 75s are passing our position now going up farther 
toward the front, it is very dark and I can’t understand how 
so many of them get through with so few accidents. There 
are no more trenches or barbed wire; we have advanced be¬ 
yond that but the fields are completely torn up from heavy 
shell fire, the woods are bare as they can be and all of the 
little villages I have seen around here have been lowered to 
the ground. At 4:00 A.M. the men got a little food that had 
been sent out by the echelon and Bill [Sgt. Bruning] and I 
sat down and ate our bacon, bread and sugar before the day’s 
work started. The country hereabouts is rather hilly and has 


138 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


all appearances of having once been a very beautiful part of 
France, but it is certainly far from beautiful now. After 
Bill and I had eaten a little we both went to bed until 8:00 
and when we got up we took down our pup-tents because we 
expect to move again before long. The battery has been fir¬ 
ing all morning and so the gun squads had to eat by turn being 
relieved by the fourth section gun squad as their gun has been 
in the repair shop for about three weeks. German planes 
have been flying over our position all morning and quite a 
few times they came so low over us that they fired at us with 
their machine guns and we fired back at them with our rifles. 
The Germans have been dropping gas shells all around us all 
morning but they don’t seem to be able to come closer than 
about one hundred feet to our position, we always have our 
masks at the alert position. Just as we started to eat noon 
mess the Jerries [Germans] started to drop 77s all around 
us and about twenty-five of them came all at once. One of 
our caissons happened to be there right at that time bringing 
up some ammunition and one of these 77s made a direct hit 
right on the lead team as they were leaving. I saw [Orel] 
Dean drop first, 1 killed outright then I noticed the three horses 
fall before I even realized what had happened. [John M.] 
Skidmore 1 was hit in the chest but rode as far as the little 
creek about twenty feet away and then slid off his horse, [Leo 
A.] Biddle was also wounded but he went to the creek to help 
Skidmore wash the blood away so that they could see just how 
much damage it had done, [Egleasheao H.] Dill was also 
wounded but not seriously, [Roy E.] Hosea got away without 
a scratch. They were immediately taken away by the medi¬ 
cal men from our battalion but the report is that Skidmore 
is expected to die before good medical attention can be gotten 
for him. These are the first casualties in our battery. Dur¬ 
ing the afternoon I painted some new red and white aiming 
posts and then I took a good wash and shave because one cer¬ 
tainly gets to feeling dirty after going through this kind of 
fighting; by the way the water we use to shave with is water 
that collects in the shell holes as we are afraid of poison in 
the creeks. We have had no water to drink since we have 
been up here and our horses have only been getting one feed 

1 Orel J. Dean, Indianapolis, killed in action July 28, 1918. Sgt. John M. Skidmore 
died August 31, 1918, from wounds. The American Legion Post, No. 104, Indianapolis, 
is named the Skidmore-Dean post in honor of these two heroes. 














































>» 3 

?h as 

<V +-> 

Ph 5 

c —r 

S o 

g a 

*-l *H 

M 3 

o 

a° 

rH 

C «J 

S Q) 

etf c 

• i—l " 

t i ^ 

rs w 

£ s 

£ ° 
£ph 

U «H 
o 

w £ 

o 

gtf 

C ■* 

<U 0) 

^ X 
C3 -*-> 

u « 

• rH 

• • G 

-M 0) 

X X <£ 

bD d -2 

• pi ■+-> »r 

Jh cj 
CO Jh 
O cd -P 
+-* £ W 

-4— 1 • 

c V-, s 


o 

U 

S-i 


PhX 

M2 W 


b£tX ^>5 

c H fO 


TD 

S .W O 

fa ?H 

<u .J 

.^S C 

mSS 

a> 

x X 

H £ C 

5 fa & 


*** 




A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


139 


of oats a day, for the rest of their feed we wait until dark 
and then graze them in the fields nearby. During evening 
mess the Captain told the detail to be ready to move in one 
half hour; the rest of the battery was also gotten ready to 
move. The details of A and B Batteries, Captains [Humphrey 
A.] Barbour and [Sidney S.] Miller and Lieut. [Clarence E.] 
Trotter then started out in advance of the 75s to find a new 
position and echelon. After we had found the position we 
wanted, the Captain, [George A.] Aurine and I started back 
to get the battery and when we got there we found that the 
orders had been changed by Col. Rieley and that we were not 
to move under any consideration until later ordered to do so; 
Col. Rieley is now in command of our regiment. 

July 29, 1918:—We had our orders changed last night on 
account of an expected counter-attack but it did not come 
and I am sure glad because I am tired to death. Last night 
quite a few shells lit very close, and this morning they are 
dropping just off to the right of us in an orchard. We are 
just outside of Beuvardes now and not very far from Fere- 
en-Tardenois. B Battery is moving forward this morning. 
After noon mess Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter, Pete [Clarence 
E.] Clift, Perry [Lesh], [William H.] Bruning and I went 
forward to locate another advance position. We finally found 
the place that we wanted and located it with the aid of our 
instruments. It is right along side of B Battery’s position 
and is three and one half kilometers behind our ‘doughboys’. 
When we were all finished we started back and on the way 
we had to pass several old buildings along side the road; just 
as we were passing them the Jerries [Germans] dropped some 
over and none of them missed us over fifty feet. We all hung 
over on the opposite side of our horses to keep from getting 
hit with flying fragments and it certainly is a wonder that 
none of us were touched. Last night the ‘doughboys’ dropped 
back because they had advanced too fast for the artillery but 
today they have taken it all back and the artillery is now 
giving them support. We got a little farther down the road 
and then stopped to declinate the aiming circle but we had no 
more than gotten to work than over the shells started to come, 
[Lt. Clarence E.] Trotter and Sgt. Bruning dropped in a ditch 
to get out of the way. Pete [Clarence E.] Clift’s horse ran 
away and he took mine to go after him. I then mounted 


140 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Trotter’s horse and led Bruning’s at a gallop out of the way 
of the fire. I’ll say that I can’t understand how we get out 
of these tight places without the loss of some part of our 
bodies, those shells lit close enough so that they just simply 
threw dirt all over me. One piece did hit the horse I was 
riding but it did no damage, only a little scratch. When 
we got back to the battery, mail had come and I sure drew 
good, so I immediately sat down to mess and after I had fin¬ 
ished I sat down and read all of my mail. Many, many 
wounded are still being brought in and the country around 
is simply covered with dead horses. During the evening I 
grazed my horse in a nearby wheat field and about 9:00 I 
went to bed. 

July 30, 1918:—Last night we had another gas alarm but 
it was false. There was practically no shelling from the Ger¬ 
man side but there was quite a bit from the American side. 
I have not had my clothes off since the 12th of this month, 
the weather is fine, sun shining most of the time and warm. 
After I had groomed my horse I lay down in the shade and 
there I slept until one of the fellows awakened me and told 
me that we had gotten orders to move. Of course in a very 
few minutes everything was in readiness, the fourgon and the 
instrument cart went on ahead. After the guns had been 
pulled into position the aiming posts were put up and then 
the boys went to digging holes and putting up pup-tents. We 
dug holes about eighteen inches deep and wide enough to 
accommodate two men and then pitched our pup-tents over 
the holes, in this way we protected ourselves from flying 
fragments. We are now about twenty-two kilometers from 
Chateau Thierry. Perry [Lesh] and Pete [Clarence E. Clift] 
put their pup-tent up together and Sgt. Bruning and I put 
ours up facing Pete’s and Perry’s; after we had eaten evening 
mess we all four got to work and dug a long deep ditch that 
we could crawl into in case of a heavy bombardment. We 
then went to bed but at 11:30 we all had to get up as the firing 
was so terrific that one was jarred too much lying down, 
then too the horses had been harnessed and brought to the 
gun position because the Germans were trying to come over 
in a nice little drive, but were held back with great losses. 

July 31, 1918:—All of the boys got up in time for break¬ 
fast this morning as there is now a field kitchen along with 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


141 


the battery. After breakfast I took my horse to water and 
then Pete [Clift] and I went up to the O.P. which is only 
about 400 meters in front of the gun position. I had just 
started to make a sketch when the Jerries [Germans] started 
to shell and we certainly had to put on some speed crawling 
out of the way; we brought our instruments in with us. Just 
after we had gotten out of the way some French came up 
and established an O.P. right where we had had ours, they 
stayed there about ten minutes and then one Frenchman was 
killed and the others just got out of the way in time. When 
we got back to our tents we both got our mess kits and started 
toward the kitchen, we had not gone thirty feet before one 
came over. ‘Pete’ and I dropped to the ground and the shell 
burst right where we had been standing only about one min¬ 
ute before. We went right on up to kitchen where mess was 
just being served. We were standing in line waiting for 
them to start putting out, when over came a six-inch which 
lit about fifty feet behind our kitchen, of course all of the 
men went to the ground but it did no harm so they got up 
and continued eating. Not a minute had passed before 
another came and we all went to the ground again. This 
one lit about fifty feet from the kitchen but did no damage 
but it was followed immediately by another which did the 
work. All of the men went to the ground and consequently 
not one was hurt. I had left my mess sitting on the ground 
when it came over and my mess kit was just simply covered 
or rather filled with dirt, two trees fell right close to the 
kitchen, and then we all got up from the ground and started 
to look around to see just how much damage it really did do. 
We naturally went to the horse line which was directly behind 
the kitchen and there we found that five horses had been 
killed. One horse went all the way up over the tops of the 
trees and one-half of the horse lit right on top of our kitchen, 
it certainly was a mess. Just after the excitement happened 
the Captain and Lieut. Trotter came up to the place to see 
just what was going on. After we had gotten some new mess 
and eaten we went back to the pup-tents got some grooming 
kits and groomed our horses which are in a grove not far 
from the guns. We never keep any of the detail horses with 
the battery horses because we have to keep them close so that 
we can get away quick if necessary. ‘Pete’ Clift and I then 
heated a bucket of water and we both took a bath out of the 


142 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


same bucket, it certainly was great too, because it was the 
first bath we had had for quite a while. About 6:00 all of the 
machine guns and practically every rifle in the battery started 
firing and when I crawled out of my pup-tent I noticed that 
there were five German planes flying low enough over our 
advance echelon and picket line to drop bombs wherever they 
pleased. They were also using their machine guns on the 
men around our kitchen but I do not believe they hurt any¬ 
one. These Germans did not stop with just one dip down 
over the batteries but they made three or four and finally one 
of them paid. All of the rifles and machine guns from our 
battery and B Battery were firing and finally some of our 
shots took effect, one of the German planes came down like 
a streak. They had been dropping bombs everywhere and the 
fragments from the bursting bombs were flying in all direc¬ 
tions. Sgt. [Karl F.] Moore and [Howard H.] Maxwell went 
over to the plane that fell, armed with rifles and when they 
got there they found two Germans, one dead with two holes 
through his head and the other with holes through his arms 
and legs. This one crawled out of his plane and was imme¬ 
diately taken charge of by the French. Both of our batteries 
were putting up a fierce barrage for the 84th Brigade as they 
were going over the top at 6:20, one can at least imagine the 
excitement and noise, we had to yell at one another to make 
ourselves heard. 

August 1, 1918:—Nothing unusual has happened since last 
night and things are pretty quiet now. After I had cleaned 
up a bit I found a book which I sat down to read, “The 
Leopard Woman”; the first reading I have done for an awful 
while and I read until noon mess time. After mess we took 
all of our instruments up to the officers’ tent where we started 
cleaning them and while we were working some German 
planes came over to try the same stunt they had pulled yes¬ 
terday. Of course all of our guns started on them, helped 
by French anti-aircraft and a French plane; the French plane 
manouevered him down within our range and between the 
work of A and B Batteries he came down with a crash about 
200 feet in front of the battery, one a day now. Firing has 
died down a very great deal now and I think that things are 
going to be pretty dead for awhile; our 'doughboys’ got ten 
German prisoners yesterday. I sat down and read a little 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


148 


more after evening mess but it did not last long as a few more 
German planes came over and we all got to firing at them. 
[Sgt. William H.] Bruning and I have hunted us up a few old 
rifles and now we fire at the planes along with the rest of 
them, it surely is great sport. Directly after the planes had 
left the Germans started to shell us with 120’s and we all had 
to get in our ditches. Most of the bursts were over and be¬ 
hind our battery, but one did light right between our battery 
and B Battery, and B Battery happened to be bringing up 
ammunition at the time; one of their Corporals was wounded 
and one of their caisson horses killed. After that several 
more planes came over and continued to drop bombs all around 
us, they did not stay long however. They had no more than 
gone when they started to shell us with gas and of course we 
had to wear our gas masks for awhile. 

August 2, 1918:—Just after I had gotten in bed the Ger¬ 
mans came over again dropping bombs, and this time they 
were real bombs, five and six inch ones, and they make a hole 
about ten feet in diameter and about eight feet deep. We 
could hear them coming long before they ever got to us and of 
course we all crawled into the ditches that we had prepared 
for that purpose, several of the bombs lit in front of the bat¬ 
tery and several behind it, but none of them lit directly in 
the battery position. Another one of our fellows [Earl 
Shockley] was taken to the hospital today suffering from shell 
shock as a result of the bombing we got yesterday. We got 
to sleep peacefully until 12:00 when the Germans started to 
shell us heavily and we all had to crawl into our ditches again, 
no one was hurt but we were sure messes when we got out 
of the ditches as it had started to rain about 11:00 and the 
ground here is nothing but clay, so one can imagine how we 
looked after lying down in a wet clay ditch. From 1:30 to 
8:00 in the morning we got to sleep and then we went up 
to breakfast after which I crawled into our tent and read 
until about 10:00. The dope is this morning that the Ger¬ 
mans have dropped back about ten kilometers and we will 
probably move up today, and true, I had just started to read 
when three whistles blew and we were told that we should 
pack up and get ready to move. The Germans put up a smoke 
screen this morning, and after, the Americans went over the 
top they could not find a German there as they had retreated 


144 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


under the cover of the smoke screen. There is very little 
firing going on now, only an occasional shot. The Captain 
and the detail went on as soon as they were ready and we 
went up as far as we could go, nearly into Fere-en-Tardenois. 
I was then sent back to bring the pieces up that far and 
[George A.] Aurine was sent back to bring the echelon up. 
I met the pieces and took them up as far as I knew the way 
and there, [Joseph L.] Simms met us and took us the rest of 
the way, [Russell H.] Lamkin went back after the combat 
train. It is very uncomfortable now, very rainy and cold 
and muddy but after we get to riding once we will warm up. 
We are now just to the right of Villers-sur-Fere just out¬ 
side of Fere-en-Tardenois; German and American soldiers and 
dead horses, can be seen lying all around wherever one goes, 
and the stench is something awful! 

August 3, 1918:—At 3:45 we got up, saddled our horses 
and got ready to leave. It was 7:00 before we were ready 
to go and by that time the battery was up and the mess cart 
was out so we all ate breakfast, and the battery and the de¬ 
tail pulled out together. We pulled half way into the town 
of Fere-en-Tardenois and could go no farther as the place was 
in complete ruins from shell fire and we could not get through. 
Buildings had fallen right across the streets, all of them were 
still burning, explosions were still going on where the Ger¬ 
mans had mined the place before they left and we were look¬ 
ing anytime to have the street on which we were pulling the 
heavy pieces go up into the air. Dead Germans could be 
seen by fives, tens and twenties in the streets and in these 
old ruined buildings, some of them black and blue from the 
effects of gas and swelled up ready to burst, others could be 
seen minus a foot, a leg, an arm or a head where they had 
been hit by shells which probably exploded under them. Every 
once in a while we would hear an explosion not very far 
off and see the debris shot hundreds of feet into the air. We 
seemed to have just a narrow path through a regular hell be¬ 
cause we never lost a man or a horse while going through. 
All kinds, in fact anything that one could mention of Amer¬ 
ican or German materiel could be seen lying throughout the 
whole town and country surrounding this place. I have seen 
more dead Americans in this little time than I ever did before 
in all my life and the smell was so bad that nearly all of the 

































’ 

























A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


145 


men put handkerchiefs over their faces. Fortunately we were 
able to turn the battery around in the big public square so 
we went out of the town on the same road we had come in 
on; we continued on through Seringes and Nesles and finally 
to the north of both these towns we stopped in a big woods. 
Torn up country was no name for it, for as far as we could 
see the trees were leveled to the ground and every five steps 
meant a shell hole while the ground was literally covered with 
dead. The woods that we are now in is one that the Amer¬ 
icans had to fight for fiercely, and with great loss, as they 
ran into snipers everywhere even way up in the trees with 
machine guns. Our battery had this woods as a target for 
awhile and we got to see the effects of our own shell fire, 
and it was so torn up that the pieces and horses could not be 
brought farther than the edge of it. It was 11:00 when we 
arrived in this woods and by 12:00 we were on our way to 
water with the horses; they had pulled very hard to get 
through this country. On my way back from water we saw 
three ‘doughboys’ with several German prisoners they had 
found prowling around in the woods probably letting them¬ 
selves be taken prisoners to get out of the whole thing. At 
1 :S0 we all ate mess with B Battery, and then the details of 
A and B Batteries left immediately. We rode through quite 
a bit of torn up country but as we went farther on we noticed 
that the country was clearing up a bit, the Germans had cut 
all of the trees and telephone poles down and felled them 
across the road so that our wagons and pieces could not fol¬ 
low so quickly, but the little villages seemed to be all intact. 
At 4:00 P.M. we arrived at the little village of Chery, and 
to the left of this village in a big woods we have a gun posi¬ 
tion. There are quite a few American planes around here 
and whenever they go over the German lines the Germans 
always fire at them with their anti-aircraft guns, other than 
that we can hear but very little firing, only once in a while 
a 77 comes over, and once in a while we can hear a shell whizz 
over our heads, “headed for the rear”, from a German long 
range gun. The country here is very pretty, long gradual 
sloping hills, and as we look out of this woods we can see a 
crest that is now held by the Germans. It had started to rain 
about 11:00 last night and by the time we were through we 
were soaked to the skin; I went to look for my horse and the 


10—22902 


146 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


woods was so dark that I could not see my hand before my 
face so I had to hunt about an hour for him. When I did 
find him I had to sit down and wait for the Germans to stop 
shelling, they had started to shell about 11:00 but had been 
falling a little short, but they have increased their range and 
they are dropping right in this woods. I finally decided to 
wait no longer so I tied my horse along with Bill’s [Brun- 
ing’s] and we started to make a bed. We first put a rain¬ 
coat on the ground, on top of that two horse blankets then 
Bruning’s rain-coat and a shelter-half and then we crawled 
in. It rained all night long and German shells dropped very 
close most of the night. 

August 4, 1918:—We slept very cold and a little wet but 
we got some much needed rest and then got up at 8:00 this 
morning. The first thing we did was to make a picket line 
and then we had our breakfast of bacon, hard-tack, sugar 
and coffee. The weather is fine this morning, sun very bright 
and warm. There is very much artillery coming in around 
us, both French and American 75s. I could not eat my noon 
mess as the stench from dead horses and men was more than 
I could stand. After mess was over Sgt. Bruning and I went 
up to the O.P., Pete [Clarence E.] Clift took care of our 
horses and we tried to get as far toward the German lines 
as we could so that we would get all the necessary dope. We 
went through a very big woods which was full of fox holes 
that had been cut by the soldiers, many shells were lighting 
to our left in the woods but we kept on going. We got to a 
bald knob about two kilometers in front of the battery and I 
immediately put a telephone on the line that [Fred W.] Turner 
and [Farrell E.] Potter had run this morning. Sgt. Bruning 
then took the scissors, crawled through a shallow ditch and 
put the instrument up to do some observing. We both noticed 
that there was a German observation balloon not far off that 
could look right down on us and we both took good care so 
that we would not be seen but this was not our lucky day. I 
went back to the little hedge where I had the phone and Brun¬ 
ing had just started to use the glasses when over a 120 came. 
I lay down and so did Bill [Bruning], the shell lit within about 
fifty feet of us, it did no damage so we both got up. The 
first shell however was followed by three more in quick suc¬ 
cession and they did the work, I flattened to the ground and 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


147 


was not touched and when I raised to see what it had done 
to Bill I could not see glasses, Bill or anything. It had 
knocked the scissors over and had covered Bill with dirt and 
he had no more than gotten out when three more came. He 
left the scissors and ran back to the hedge where I was and 
then we both ran down the hill to the road below the knob, 
taking all but the scissors down with us. Pete [Clarence E.] 
Clift had come up after us with the horses but had to leave 
them about a half kilometer back because the shells were 
dropping on every side of us, we met him as we ran down 
onto the road and he knew just what was the trouble. We 
sat down long enough to decide how we would get the scissors 
back, Pete didn’t want to take the chance so Bruning and I 
went back up after it while Pete waited for us and watched 
the junk. Bill and I went to the top of the hill and then to 
the hedge where I had been, from there Bill made a run right 
through the open and got the scissors, I ran out and met him, 
and on to the bottom of the hill we went; shells were falling 
so fast that all we could do was drop on the road to keep from 
getting hit. After we had gotten our breath back we ran 
to a place that had been dug in the hill at the side of the road 
for ambulances and there we sat down to rest. I think rest 
had ‘gone on a strike’ though for we no more than sat down 
when here came about eight ‘doughboys’ all out of breath, one 
of them being led between two of the others on account of 
shell shock. They said that a German machine gun sniper 
had control of about sixty feet of road just down the way a 
little and he was just simply piling the Americans up in that 
little space. We stayed until the second lieutenant, who had 
an iodine cross marked on his head as an indication that he 
was wounded, and four of the privates started back after 
the German sniper and then we started back to the guns. 
When a man is wounded on the front, an iodine cross is al¬ 
ways marked on his head by the medical department to show 
that he is wounded. Men are not supposed to go back to the 
front when they have that cross but this fellow wanted to 
get the machine gun so he went to fight in spite of his wound. 
When we got in we found that the guns had been moved from 
the woods into the open field and camouflage had been put 
up over them. So Bill [Bruning] and I went over to the 
woods got our personal stuff and came back to a big sink 


148 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


hole just to the right of our guns where we dug a hole in the 
bank and fixed our beds for the night. 

August 5, 1918:—During the night several shells lit very 
close and directly behind us and in the thicket five horses 
were killed. We got up at 8:15 and the first thing we did 
was make our holes deeper, we did not have breakfast until 
9:00. I fed and watered my horse and then I finished mak¬ 
ing our shelter larger. The Captain then told me to go back 
up to the O.P. With me went four of the Third Division men; 
they have never been on a real live front before and they 
sure are ‘iggy’ boys. At 12:30 Perry [Lesh] came up to 
relieve me and I went back to the guns. The O.P. we now 
have is a very good one, comfortable, good view, and high 
up in a tree; it was a German O.P. and we simply turned it 
around, cut some limbs out of the way and now we can see 
all over the front that we have to cover. 

August 6, 1918:—Last night was pretty well broken up 
for us; we had a great deal of gas and there were any amount 
of ‘duds’ came over from the German side. Captain [Sidney 
S.] Miller came up to the O.P. this morning and tried to 
adjust, but the new maps are so inaccurate that he could do 
no good. One of the Majors from the Third Division came 
up to the O.P. later on and then Capt. Miller, Capt. [Hum¬ 
phrey A.] Barbour and this Major went up to the O.P. that 
Sgt. Bruning and I were run out of the other day. I showed 
the men from the Third Division headquarters where to string 
their wire to get to this advance O.P. and then I came on in 
for my mess. While up at O.P. we saw a German plane come 
over and make one of the prettiest dives of about three thou¬ 
sand feet that I have ever seen before. While he came down 
he shot tracer or incendiary bullets at one of our observation 
balloons, the observer of the balloon came down very nicely 
in a parachute and the balloon came down in flames. At 12:30 
an awful barrage was put over by the Americans, and at 4:30 
the ‘doughboys’ went over the top and took the village of 
Bazoches. 

August 7, 1918:—The battery fired all night and Perry 
[Lesh] didn’t get any sleep at all, so he stayed in at the guns. 
Sgt. Bruning did not come up to the O.P. until about 11:00 
and then Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter came up with him. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


149 


Lieut. Trotter adjusted one piece on the church steeple in 
Bazoches and then he went in to the battery. About 11:00 
a mess of officers came up, Majors, Colonels and “shave tails” 
and they played around the O.P. for awhile and I don’t believe 
any of them knew very much about what they were doing. 
Perry and [Claude] Moulden relieved us at 1:40 and we came 
on in to mess, after mess I went back to our echelon which 
is in the very place that our guns were over in the woods, 
there I stole some tobacco and got a hair cut and left my 
shoes to have them repaired. I then came back to the guns 
where I started to work on the fourgon, I tore the middle com¬ 
partment out so that we would have more room, while I was 
working five German planes came over and they certainly 
had things their way. They brought two of our observation 
balloons down in flames and the observers came to the ground 
in parachutes. The boys are pretty well all in from working 
so hard and it doesn’t seem to be letting up any. Food is 
very poor and the fellows are getting ready to raise the 
'dickens’ about it because they can’t do the work on the food 
they get. Our whole detail is quartered here in a big gulch 
near the gun position, all of them have holes dug in the banks, 
the place used to be a German stronghold and makes a very 
good place to live. There has been a great deal of German 
aerial activity today and they say that the Germans are going 
to start something tonight. It is now 8:30 and I am going 
to bed pretty shortly. 

August 8, 1918:—Not a thing unusual happened last night, 
in fact things were pretty quiet. After breakfast this morn¬ 
ing Pete Clift, Joe [Joseph L.] Simms and I went up to the 
O.P. At 11:00 the Captain came up and started adjusting 
two of the guns on the road leading from Vauxtin down the 
long hill toward us and after he had them adjusted he waited 
for some activity. It was not long before a group of Ger¬ 
mans came along and stopped to examine the shell hole we 
had made in the road. ‘Bang’, went the first piece at the 
Captains order, and thirty-seven seconds later we saw Ger¬ 
mans fly in all directions, about 12:00 a big wagon came along 
and after we had timed it thirty-seven seconds away from the 
whole, which is the time of flight for the projectile at this 
range, the second piece fired and the wagon stopped, then the 
first piece fired and the wagon collapsed. From then on until 


150 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


about 1:30 we got several targets in the same manner; Perry 
[Lesh] relieved me then and I went back to the battery where 
I sat down and wrote some letters. I did not have any good 
paper to write on so I used some out of my note book, when I 
will get to mail these letters I can not say. During the after¬ 
noon I cleaned up a pair of shoes and straightened things up 
in general. About 5:00 evening mess came out and it cer¬ 
tainly was a surprise they had sent out coffee, sugar, biscuits, 
steak, mashed potatoes, bread, butter and gravy, it sure went 
good. After I had eaten mess I lay down and slept for a 
while, in fact I slept until I was awakened by some shells 
bursting in Chery. We all went outside, up on the hill and 
watched the fellows running out of the town. The Captain 
and Perry and Lieut. Trotter are still doing a little sniping 
from the O.P. Vaughn Cooke went back to the States yester¬ 
day and the ‘snow’ is around here that the Austrians are out 
of the war and that the English have penetrated ten kilo¬ 
meters at Amiens. 

August 9, 1918:—This morning after we had eaten our 
breakfast Pete Clift, Potter and I went up to the O.P. and 
the first thing that we noticed was that the villages of Vaux- 
tin, Paars and Bazoches were being shelled very heavily. 
There is very little aerial activity this morning but artillery 
and machine gun fire can be heard continuously. We are get¬ 
ting better food now and the fellows are getting in a little 
better spirits, we had been feeding Headquarters and supply 
companies but now they are again with their own out-fits 
and we get more food. The front is very quiet now but I 
don’t know how long that will last, there is practically no 
aerial activity at all. The weather has been very fine lately 
and the boys have all had a wonderful chance to clean up be¬ 
cause now they can take their clothes off without freezing. 
There is also a great deal of 'snow’ about the war; England 
has landed a force on the north east part of Germany, Japan 
is in the war, Austria is out of the war, etc. I hope it’s all 
so because we may as well have a regular war while we’re 
at it. At 5:30 the mess cart came out and we had a very good 
evening meal, some newspapers also came out with the food 
and now all of the boys are sitting around reading. These 
boys from the Third Division get awfully excited once in a 
while and turn in a gas alarm for every dead horse they 


i 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


151 


smell, we have only had five gas alarms from them since 2:00 
this afternoon. I am now going to bed. 

August 10, 1918:—About 9:00 last night the Germans 
started a general harrassing fire and it seemed to come all 
our way, there was tear and mustard gas in the air all night 
and high explosive shells lit all around us, incendiary shells 
also came over and there were fires all around us. About 
12:00 we got a telephone call from the echelon that a high 
explosive had hit a tree in the middle of the echelon and had 
injured several men, [Kenneth] Simms, [Guy F.] Chilcote 
and [George B.] Secrist were taken to the hospital. Also 
many ‘duds’ came over and one time during the night one lit 
so close to us that we heard it hit the ground and felt the 
ground shake, but it did not go off. Just at dusk last night 
we saw a German bring a Frenchman nearly to the ground, 
we could see the tracer bullets going from the German ma¬ 
chine gun toward the French plane, and could even see some 
of them glance off the body of the French plane, but luck was 
with the Frenchman and he got away. We all got up for 
breakfast as the food is worth getting up for now, and after 
we had eaten, Pete Clift, [George A.] Aurine and I went up 
to the O.P., visibility was very poor when we first got up there 
but about 8:00 it cleared up and now we can see fine. Sgt. 
Bruning came up about 9:00, and then he and Pete went 
out on a scouting party. Just after they had gone the Cap¬ 
tain came up and we sniped until 12:00 when the Major called 
and gave the Captain the co-ordinates of a machine gun nest 
that he wished destroyed. Perry [Lesh] came to relieve me 
but before I left we cut the tops out of three trees so that the 
Captain could get better observation. I got into some gas 
this morning and now I have a bad headache and my eyes 
hurt; I also telephoned in to the echelon to Sgt. [Bryant W.] 
Gillespie, who is the gas Non-com in our battery, for a new 
gas mask as mine is just about on the bum. The second gun 
squads are now out here and they just about have been firing 
continuously. Bill [Bruning] and I tried to get away from 
the battery this morning when an order came down asking 
for two men to go to school for aerial artillery observation 
but we could not make the grade. A German plane came over 
late today and did a great job of bringing down a French 
sausage balloon and a little later in the evening we watched 


152 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


a systematic shelling of Chery, the bursts were all right in 
the town and only about six or seven hundred feet away from 
us, several men were wounded. Just after the Germans had 
finished shelling the town from a short range some of their 
long range rifles started to fire, but their range was a little 
long and all of the bursts were over. 

August 11, 1918:—At 10:00 we were awakened and told 
to roll our rolls and get ready to leave, so pack we did. After 
I had all of my personal junk packed I went down and packed 
my side of the fourgon and then some one of our detail had to 
go up to the O.P. after the tripod to the scissors which we 
had always left wired in the top of the tree. I didn’t feel 
much like going but the lot fell to me so I started; it was as 
dark as it could be and all kinds of shells were falling every¬ 
where. I had a time getting to the O.P. because the gas was 
so very thick that I could hardly get my breath, but I could 
not put my gas mask on because I could not have found my 
way with it on; I sneezed and my eyes watered continually. 
The closer I got to the O.P. the better I could tell that shells 
were lighting all around the O.P. so I started to pick my way 
running from one fox hole to the other and I finally got within 
about one hundred feet of the O.P. but shells were coming so 
fast that I could go no farther. I sat in the fox hole trying 
to figure out just what to do and could come to no other con¬ 
clusion but that I should make a run for the O.P. and let 
come what would. When I started to run I just happened to 
say to myself that I wished they would let up just long enough 
for me to get up in the tree, get the tripod and get away, and 
sure enough they did. Shells just seemed to shift to the left 
of the O.P. until I had gotten up in the tree and had my tripod 
out and then they started to come again, about every other 
one was a gas shell and nearly all of my breath was gone by 
the time I got back to the battery. They were all ready to 
pull out when I got there and one of the fellows had saddled 
my horse for me so I was all ready to start. Just as the bat¬ 
tery was pulling out a German aviator came over and dropped 
a light that stayed suspended in the air above our batteries 
as they moved out, and we all thought that we were in for a 
good shelling but even though the shells did come over fast, 
none of them seemed to be for us and we got away without a 
mishap of any sort. It was so dark and all of the men were 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


153 


so tired that just about all of our detail who were mounted 
on horses went to sleep as we went along, we have gotten so 
now that we can sleep as our horse goes along and never fear 
falling off. We went through Fere-en-Tardenois and 
Beuvardes and just about daylight we pulled into an echelon 
that we had occupied on our way up, we immediately made 
a picket line, fed and watered our horses and then took our 
junk to a secure place. It is very pleasant around camp to¬ 
day, really just like a big picnic, the band has been playing 
some real music and the boys are in real spirits in spite of 
their fatigue and sleepiness. Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff gave Bill 
[William H. Bruning] and I an order on the commissary and 
we managed to get two boxes of American cigars, two cartons 
of Fatimas and two boxes of chocolate candy, the first thing 
of this sort we have had for an awful while. We took our 
time in getting back to camp and when we did get there you 
can imagine our surprise at seeing the battery all ready to 
pull out. Bill and I certainly put on a lot of speed and finally 
we got our horses saddled and our junk tied on and were 
ready to pull out. We got out to the main road and then 
went on through Epieds, from there we turned to the north 
and continued on until about 5:00 P.M. when we pulled into 
a very beautiful valley where the whole regiment will camp 
for the night at least. I helped to build a dam in the creek 
so that there would be plenty of water for the horses and 
then Bill and I pitched our pup-tents. This is certainly a very 
pretty place, big trees, a nice creek and nice grass to sleep on. 

August 12, 1918:—Last night after we had gone to bed 
some mail came in but as we are not allowed to have any 
lights I did not open mine until this morning. I could not 
hear a gun all last night and it sure seemed strange to be 
able to sleep without all of that noise; the boys also put on 
some singing last night and things seem to be in fine shape 
and everybody seems to be happy. After I had groomed my 
horse this a.m. I took a walk up into a large woods where 
some of the worst fighting of the war has taken place, Belleau 
Woods, and there I saw the base of the “Big Bertha”, the gun 
that was used to bombard Paris; nothing but the base was 
there and it certainly showed that the gun it held was of an 
unusual type. I then came back in to noon mess which was 
a very good meal, and after that we took all of the horses out 


154 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


into a large pasture where they were turned loose to graze 
for the remainder of the afternoon. All of the fellows washed 
harness and got things in general good shape so that we would 
be ready to leave in good order when the word came. Just 
before evening mess I was told to go back about four kilo¬ 
meters to the Forty-second Division ration dump and get a 
new ration cart, so [Daniel] Isador Wolfson and I made the 
trip and got back about 8:15; I had the cramps so bad that 
I could not eat any mess so I went to bed. 

August 13, 1918:—Many of the fellows are having quite a 
bit of trouble with their stomachs now and we think it is from 
the food and water. We have been having salmon and slum 
three meals a day and it doesn’t quite agree. Directly after 
mess some S.O.S. officer came along and tried to show his 
authority and made us move our picket line into the woods 
and our pup-tents into the edge of the woods and camouflage 
the tents. They certainly do some funny stunts, they put all 
of the horses and men in the woods and then pulled the big 
six-inch guns out in the open and let them stand without a 
bit of camouflage over them. The horses had been out graz¬ 
ing all afternoon and at 4:00 when we had finished fixing up 
again they were brought back in, watered and fed and then 
the men went to evening mess. About 12:00 last night I 
heard an awful noise and got up; [George A.] Aurine had a 
nightmare I suppose, because we could find nothing, but at 
any rate he thought that a horse was stepping on him and 
he kicked his tent down and yelled for the horse to get out 
of the way. We all got up and took flash lights and pistols 
and looked all around but we could find nothing so we went 
back to bed. 

August 14, 1918:—Last night or rather during the evening 
several of the fellows took a walk to the “Big Bertha” posi¬ 
tion which is certainly an interesting place, the base is made 
of concrete and about 40 feet in diameter, in that is a turn 
table about 25 feet in diameter, and it turns on a pivot which 
rests on ballbearings eight inches in diameter. It is very 
evident that the Germans tried to damage it with dynamite 
but they hardly made an impression in it. We were awak¬ 
ened at 5:30 this a.m. and told to roll our rolls and prepare to 
move. This we did after a very slim breakfast, and at 9:30 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


155 


we pulled out. We went through Chateau Thierry and just 
after we had gone through the town Lieut. [Clarence E.] 
Trotter and several of our detail men left the battery and 
went on ahead to find an echelon for the night. We went 
through Vaux and about a mile on the other side of Vaux 
we pulled into a big woods where the battery will pull in 
when they come. Perry [Lesh] and I and a few of the other 
fellows cleared away some of the brush so that the wagons 
could pull in without getting tangled up and then we struck 
out and found some wild raspberries which we certainly filled 
up on. After everything was properly fixed we had an even¬ 
ing mess which was not even worth looking at, one piece of 
bread was given to each man and of course that was not 
enough, so one fellow stole another piece and was caught by 
one of the cooks, a very nice fight then took place in which 
a cook got a good beating, the fellows hissed and yelled and 
cheered for the fellow who had stolen the piece of bread and 
the officers had no luck in stopping them. Guards were im¬ 
mediately put on over the ration carts and wagons so that 
the fellows of the battery could not steal, but the fellows 
from the battery would watch while the guards stole from the 
wagons and then they would divide the food. The fellows 
are simply crying for food now and what we get is no good 
at all. The fellows are stealing everything they can get their 
hands on in the way of food. We hear that we are going to 
move out at 5:00 in the morning so we are now going to bed. 

August 15, 1918:—At 5:80 this morning we got up and 
went through the usual line of work, watered and fed the 
horses, had our own mess and then pulled out; we followed 
exactly the same route going back that we had used on our 
way up here. Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter and several of 
we men went on ahead of the battery to locate a place for 
the battery to park over-night. On our way three truck 
trains passed us, French, and every truck was driven by a 
Chinese coolie. They were certainly dirty looking creatures, 
half asleep and they looked like they had been traveling for 
a very long while. About 10:00 we pulled inside of a road 
only about one kilometer from Dhuisy the little village where 
we stayed where the Colonel [Robert H. Tyndall] had his pri¬ 
vate play-house. The battery pulled in about 1:30 and after 
we had had mess and gotten things in order which was about 



156 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


3:00 we groomed and grazed the horses. Bill [William H. 
Bruning] and I then put our blankets on the ground and went 
to bed. 

August 16, 1918:—While Bruning and I were playing 
around this a.m. we found out that some of the detail men and 
the Captain would leave about 11:00 and the battery would 
leave a little after; we all got ready and at 11:00 Bruning, 
[Fred W.] Turner, [Farrell E.] Potter, Pete [Clarence E.] 
Clift and I started out with the Captain. It was very hot rid¬ 
ing and it certainly was misery to jolt up and down on a horse 
during the hottest hours of the morning; we did not make 
very much time because the Captain’s horse was a little sick 
and we arrived at Lizy at about 1:30. There we looked over 
the loading platform; it is the same one that the 1st Battalion 
unloaded from when we came up to this front. The Captain 
went on in to Lizy and Potter went back to bring up the battery. 
B Battery’s detail men also came and a few of our men went 
up to their place to see whether they could not bum a little 
food but B Battery wouldn’t put out, so they did without food 
until the battery came. The Captain finally came back and 
told us that if one man would stay at the little grove where 
the battery is to park, the rest of us could go in to the little 
village of Lizy-sur-Ourcq. Bruning stayed at the grove and 
the other three of us went on in to the village, where we 
played around until 5:00 P.M. and then we started back to the 
battery. When night came we did not unroll our rolls be¬ 
cause we are going to leave so early in the morning; we 
simply took our horse blankets and put one under and one 
over and then went to sleep. Capt. Miller had to kill his horse 
after the long day’s ride. 


CHAPTER VIII 

A Rest Camp?? 

August 17, 1918:—At 2:00 A.M. we were awakened and the 
job of getting ready to move was begun. We harnessed and 
hitched immediately and when the battery was ready we pulled 
out on our way to Lizy-sur-Ourcq. Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift, 
[Russell H.] Lamkin and I went ahead to put up a picket 
line at the platform for our horses before loading. The bat¬ 
tery pulled in at 3:3D and the horses were tied to the picket 
line and everything was gotten ready to load on the trains. 
Our train finally pulled in at 8:15 and of course all of the 
men were made to help load horses and materiel on the cars. 
After all of the materiel was on the train there was very little 
room for the men so some of us made our bunks on a flat 
car under the fourgon. We pulled out of Lizy at about 11:00 
and we did not get our noon mess until nearly 3:00, and then 
it only consisted of salmon, cold tomatoes and bread. The 
afternoon was nice and warm and we had a lot of fun as we 
went through the country; we passed through Chateau 
Thierry at 3:45 and during the rest of the afternoon we 
passed through many more small villages such as Changis- 
sur-Marne, Citry, Pavant, Nogentel, Brasse, Gland, Mecy, 
Passy, Dormans, Damery, Port-a-Binson, Chatillon, Bourchult, 
Epernay, Diry, Mareuil, Athis, Jalons-les-Vignes and Chalons 
where we arrived about 8:00. I got off the train and went 
up to a French canteen where I bought cigarettes, cigars, 
chewing gum, jam and sardines and then I had to run for the 
train. Not long after we had started we went through St. 
Ditzier and then we all went to bed, it was moonlight and 
cool, making it very pleasant riding. The day hasn’t been a 
very bad one after all and we have had a lot of fun talking 
to all of the French people as we pass. 

August 18, 1918:—At 5:30 we were awakened and told 
that we would unload in ten minutes, so we all got up and 
proceeded to get our junk together and we finally pulled into 
Damblain where we unloaded. We are now about fifty kilo¬ 
meters to the south of Neufchateau. Immediately after we 


(157) 



158 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


got off the train the detail harnessed and went on ahead with 
Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter to find the town in which we 
were to billet and also to mark the road for the battery which 
followed behind us. When the battery came in I showed the 
kitchen where to go and [John U.] Bosson showed the bat¬ 
tery where to go; we then had to put up a very long picket 
line and after that was done we had to pitch our pup-tents 
in a big field all in line and right up to the “T”. This is 
supposed to be a rest camp, but from the way they have 
started out it is going to be a model “Boy Scout” camp. After 
the boys had watered the horses and the rest of the work 
was over [George A.] Aurine, Dick [Richard] and John Bos¬ 
son, [Leslie H.] Coleman and I went out to try to borrow 
money to pay for the meal that Coleman arranged for; the 
boys are all shy on money now because the last pay that we 
got was in May. We finally scraped enough together how¬ 
ever, and away to our meal we went. We had fried rabbit, 
fried potatoes, fried eggs, bread, milk, and salad and after 
we got through the woman told us to pay her what we wanted 
to, so we gave her fifteen francs and ordered another meal 
for tomorrow. When we will get the money to pay for it 
I do not know, but I am not worrying about it. Bill [Brun- 
ing] and I went to bed about 10:00. 

August 19, 1918:—We got up at 7:00 a.m. Thank heavens 
I didn’t have to eat noon mess with the battery as they had 
salmon again, the medical men are even getting after our 
officers and cooks for feeding so much salmon. Our bunch 
went up to the old woman’s home where we had a very good 
meal of duck, fried potatoes, fried eggs, milk, sugar, coffee 
and bread. We also found out that the old woman who 
cooks our meals for us is the town crier, and whenever she 
has any work or announcing to do she goes out through the 
street with her drum and gets the villagers together and then 
tells them just what she has to say. We then went back to 
the battery where we were paid; I owed [William H.] Brun- 
ing 65 francs, but I only paid him 30 so that I would have 
a little left. 

August 20, 1918:—This morning we again got up at 7:00 
and some of the boys went to stables; somehow they divided 
the boys up and I did not have to attend the formation. Dur¬ 
ing the morning I cleaned my pistol, wrote some letters and 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


159 


then slept for awhile. At noon our bunch again went up to 
the French woman’s home where we had a meal of roast 
chicken, salad, fried potatoes, sugar, coffee, butter and cot¬ 
tage cheese. Many of the boys went out on passes to a nearby 
village during the evening but I went to bed. The weather is 
fine. 

August 21, 1918:—I did nothing this morning but take a 
detail of men and cleaned the picket line. After my noon 
meal [Leslie H.] Coleman, Sgt. Bruning and I took a walk 
up to the village of Clefmont four kilometers away. That 
walk all the way was up hill, and a more miserable walk I 
never hope to take again. I swear I never will walk it again. 
On our way back I did manage to steal a pocket full of big 
blue plums which were very good. 

August 22, 1918:—Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift left for school 
today, and many of the boys are trying to get passes to go 
down to Contrexville where Base Hospital No. 32 [Indian¬ 
apolis unit] is located. A train can be gotten to go down 
to the place, but the boys have to walk back. [Leroy R.] 
Thomas and [Harry A.] Brickel went A.W.O.L., and went 
down there for forty-eight hours and now they are on fatigue. 
Old Thomas’s feet are about all in because he walked the 
tracks all the way back and it is about 30 kilometers, or 
twenty-two miles. For our noon meal we went to the French 
woman’s home again where we had fried potatoes, steak, 
salad, bread, butter, coffee, sugar and milk. We always take 
this hardtack along to the old woman’s house and she trades 
us war-bread for it because she likes it. The nights are very 
pleasant now, moonlight and good nights for sleeping. If 
they don’t work us too hard now the boys will be getting some 
of their old spirits back again. 

August 23, 1918:—At 6:30 we were gotten out of bed and 
after feeding and watering the horses we had our mess. At 
8:30 drill call blew and we went out into one of the big open 
fields near here and had ‘doughboy’ drill until 9:30 when we 
came in and went to stables. After my noon meal we came 
back to the battery and at 1:15 we again started to work 
washing and oiling the harness. At 3:30 we started to ‘dough¬ 
boy’ again and we drilled until 4:30 when we were dismissed. 
At 6:00 we had our mess. Bryant Gillespie, ‘Pug’ [Rogers 


160 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


H.] George and I then got Perry Lesh and told him all about 
the little club that [Edwin H.] Bassett, [Rogers H.] George, 
[Wilbur B.] Morgan, [Bryant W.] Gillespie and I had formed 
when we were coming over on the boat, and we asked him to 
join, which he did. Many of the boys here in the battery 
have the “snow” that Sgt. [Byron C.] Young is going back 
to the states to be an instructor, but no one has any real ‘dope’ 
on it. 

August 24, 1918:—When we got up this morning we saw 
several of the fellows out in the middle of the creek with 
clubs getting fish; the rain had muddied up the creek and all 
of the fish were coming to the top. We had nothing to do 
all morning because it rained so hard and we stayed around 
in our tents until 11:00 when we went down to stables where 
we watered and fed. After stables Sgt. Bruning, John and 
Dick Bosson, [George A.] Aurine, [Leslie H.] Coleman and 
I went up to our French woman’s home where we had our 
noon meal of bread, butter, coffee, sugar, fish, beef-steak, fried 
potatoes, and salad. This French woman’s son was home on 
a furlough and had his wife along, also a little son, so we all 
ate dinner together. These people can get no sugar and 
we always give them what is left of ours, and you ought to 
see them go after it. After evening mess I went to our tent 
where I fixed up a cut I had on my foot, and now I am going 
to read the Stars and Stripes and then go to bed. 

August 25, 1918:—This morning we did not get up until 
7:00 and we immediately went down to stables where we 
watered and fed, we then had our breakfast. At 8:00 we 
went to a stable formation and the horses were so dirty that 
the boys had to take some of them to the creek to get them 
clean. They walked the horses around in the creek and mud¬ 
died the water up very much and many fish came to the top so 
the fellows got clubs and it was not long before they had 
enough for the whole battery. All of we fellows had passes 
for the afternoon so we put on our old clothes and ‘coon 
fished’ the rest of the day. We got four pretty fair sized bass 
and any number of big suckers, so we put on our other clothes, 
cleaned the fish and had them for the evening meal. Every¬ 
body had their fill of fish for mess. The weather is fine and 
the boys are in pretty good spirits but are anxiously awaiting 
the hard drill schedule that starts tomorrow. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


161 


August 26, 1918:—Our hard drill started when we got up at 
5:15 and went to stables. After we had eaten our mess we 
went out to the drill field where we ‘doughboyed’ for about 
two hours. We then came in and immediately went to stables 
which lasted until noon. We had a pretty fair noon mess . 
with an issue of Bull Durham and now I am waiting for a 
drill call. Capt. [Sidney S.] Miller has again taken charge of 
the 1st Battalion and Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter is in charge 
of our battery. The following is a copy of the drill schedule 
we are living to, supposed to be a rest camp: 

Drill Schedule 


First Call. 5:15 a. m. 

Reveille . 5:25 a. m. 

Assembly . 5:30 a. m. 

Mess . 6:00 a. m. 

Sick Call . 7:00 a. m. 

Call for Drill. 7:00 a. m. 

Recall . 10:25 a. m. 

Stables . 10:30 a. m. 

Recall . 11:45 a. m. 

Mess . 12:00 a. m. 

Call for Drill. 12:55 p. m. 

Recall . 3:30 p. m. 

Stables . 4:00 p. m. 

Recall... 4:45 p. m. 

Mess . 5:00 p. m. 

First Call for Retreat. 6:15 p. m. 

Assembly. 6:25 p. m. 

Retreat . 6:30 p.m. 

Water Call. 6:45 p.m. 

Call to Quarters. 9:30 p.m. 

Taps . 10:00 p. m. 


August 27, 1918:—During drill we have squad movements, 
aiming and pointing exercises and platoon drill. After the 
drill we came in to stables but Perry [Lesh] and I ‘stalled’ 
a little and went down to our fourgon where we cleaned and 
straightened up the chest we keep our instruments in. After 
we had eaten our noon mess some of the cannoniers took the 
horses out to graze, the drivers had gun drill and the detail 
went out for wigwag and semaphore practice. Later in the 
afternoon the Corporals of the detail gave groups of men from 
the battery semaphore drill, and at 4:00 the whole battery 
went to stables which lasted until evening mess. Bill [Wil¬ 
liam H. Bruning] was made first Sergeant today. 


11—22902 























162 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


August 28, 1918:—At 7:30 this A.M. we started out, only 
the pieces, caissons and a few escort wagons went along. We 
went through Daillecourt, Clefmont and then back to our camp 
at Meavy. Some of the boys from the Lilly Base Hospital 
[Indianapolis Unit] have been here to visit us; the weather 
continues to be very line and the boys are in wonderful con¬ 
dition, although they are simply yelling for the front so that 
they can get away from this drill schedule. While at mess 
we found out that we were to move out immediately. I rolled 
both Bruning’s and my roll and got all of our junk together 
ready to start. We went on ahead for billeting purposes. We 
went through Damblain, through Blevaincourt and stopped 
in Robecourt. There we met Lieut. Free of 1st. Battalion 
and we went out to hunt for parking space for 1st Battalion, 
A and B Batteries. We had to find space for the guns, cais¬ 
sons, wagons, kitchens, picket line for the horses and places 
for the men to sleep; A Battery got the wooden barracks. 
The battery came in about 12:00, picket line was made, guns 
and materiel parked and the boys got in bed about 1:30. 

August 29, 1918:—At 10:00 this A.M. Lieut. Stevenson told 
me that we would leave at 1:45 on another billeting detail and 
that the battery would pull out at 8:00 tonight. At 2:00 we 
left and finally pulled into the village of Bulgneville. The 
whole Battalion parks in this village tonight and after we 
had found our places we fellows went to a meal that some of 
the boys had arranged for. We had fried ham, fried eggs, 
fried potatoes, salad, bread, butter and plums. After we had 
finished the meal and were ready to pay the lady, she would 
only take five francs and made us all take a drink of prune 
juice and believe me it just about ‘knocked me in a curve'. 
This woman’s home was exceptionally clean, but she was a 
dressmaker so I guess that accounts for it. There are quite 
a few men here from the Royal British Flying Corps, the 
village is a pretty fair sized one and is pretty clean. At 9:00 
P.M. we collected our detail just outside of the town to wait 
for the battery, each man knew just where to take his certain 
part of the battery as the ground had been looked over and 
each man was ready for them. There were several different 
locations and the first battery in was to have the pick of the 
places. At 11:00 B Battery came in followed by A Battery. 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


163 


August 30, 1918:—Most of the boys groomed all morning 
and then we had mess; directly after mess I started to get 
ready to leave. Promptly at 2:00 we left. When at 4:00 we 
pulled into our town we found out that the whole regiment 
was to pull into this village for the night so we had to look the 
ground over pretty well. After we had found a suitable place 
we all went to a meal that a few of the fellows had arranged 
for. We had fried eggs, fried potatoes and bread and it cer¬ 
tainly tasted very good after riding and then working around 
out in the open. Tug’ [Rogers H. George] then went back 
to his marking place and the rest of us took up our posts just 
outside of the village to wait for the battery which was to 
start at 7:15. At midnight Pete Clift came riding up and 
told us that the battery had gone, due to a change in orders, 
in another direction. I immediately sent half of the men we 
had left, after the markers we had dropped, and at 1:00 a.m. * 
when we started, we dropped markers along the way. 

August 31, 1918:—After we had dropped all of our mark¬ 
ers [Fred W.] Turner, Lieut. Stevenson and myself left and 
we were in the village of Ruovess at just 2:00 a.m. It was 
rather chilly and we had to wait for the rest of the fellows 
to come so we built a fire in the middle of the main square 
of the village and sat down to warm until they appeared. We 
all looked for the mayor of the town to come out and try to 
chase us in the pen for disturbing the peace of the village but 
I suppose he did not wake up. At 4:30 we pulled into the 
village of Landeville, found the battery, but could not find 
where the men were sleeping as it was still dark, so we put 
our horses away and put our blankets on the ground not far 
from our picket line and went to sleep. The whole regiment 
is stationed in the village which is about nine kilometers from 
Neufchateau and the battery is parked along the road just 
at the side of the barracks that the boys are moving into this 
morning. Just the other day I got a letter from home and 
in it there was a money order for twenty-five dollars and 
Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter cashed it for me this morning. 

If I get a chance I am going in to Neuf chateau and buy my¬ 
self a new pair of high shoes. At 10:00 they told me that 
the billeting detail would move out again at 2:00 P.M. so all 
of the fellows who were with me last night lay down to sleep 
a little before starting out; the rest of the battery went to 


164 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


stables. About an hour afternoon mess the boys started to 
saddle up and then the order came down that we would not 
move out until further orders had been given, so we went 
to sleep again while the other fellows grazed the horses. The 
weather has been fine and the country is very beautiful, hilly, 
everything green and pleasant. The boys have had their fill 
of plums as they are even more plentiful than apples. Many 
of the boys have gone A.W.O.L. just for the day and have 
gone up to Neufchateau which is only nine kilometers from 
here. 

September 1, 1918:—It is now 2:00 and all the rest of the 
batteries are out on pass but this ‘Boy Scout outfit' as the 
boys call it, and which it really is,—just had a work call and 
we are going out to wash harness the rest of the afternoon. 
Some of the fellows who are on fatigue for such things as 
putting a sweater on over a shirt or blouse are being marched 
up and down the road under full pack and with rifles. After 
we had finished washing the harness all of the boys went in 
to the cantonments and lay down to sleep a little before the 
afternoon stable formation. 

September 2, 1918:—At 9:30 we had another stable forma¬ 
tion and I had a detail of six cannoniers to fill the water 
trough for the horses when they come down at 11:00. While 
down there I got the ‘snow' that half the battery would get 
passes to Neuf chateau so I immediately took a good wash and 
shave; I had 120 francs out of the twenty-five dollars that I 
got from home so I went over to Mutt [Lloyd] Rust in the 
band and borrowed 100 francs more. I didn’t eat any noon 
mess but I helped write out the passes for the boys, about 
100 of them in all. At 1:00 Sgts. [Bryant W.] Gillespie, 
[Paul W.] Mullikin, [Byron C.] Young, [William H.] Brun- 
ing, [Jonas F.] Prather and Cpls. [Leslie IL] Coleman, [Ed¬ 
ward S.] Magruder and I went down to the railroad station 
to wait for the train. It came about 1:30, and we all piled 
into the baggage car so that the conductor could not get to 
us for our fares, the baggage car was loaded with grapes 
and the boys sure got their fill before they got off the train. 
We got into Neufchateau about 2:00 and we went directly 
to the Y.M.C.A. where we got some sandwiches and coffee and 
played the piano for awhile. From there we went down the 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


165 


main street looking in the windows and finally we stopped in 
a watch store where Sgt. Bruning bought a watch for Lieut. 
Trotter for 85 francs, and one for himself for 82 francs, and 
to top things off and make things even with the French for 
their high prices I stole myself a watch. After we had in¬ 
vested in a chain for our watches we left the store, Gillespie 
went to a barber shop and Bruning and I went on to look for 
some shoes. We went to three stores and finally ran into an 
English commissary where we bought some underwear, soap 
and a few other small articles. I then met [Herman R.] 
Armstrong our saddler on the street and I made him go along 
with me and look over all of the shoes, I finally bought a pair 
for 150 francs. Bruning couldn’t get a pair to fit him so 
he did not get any. At 6:00 we all went to the Hotel Provi¬ 
dence where we had a meal of green beans, tongue, bread, 
cheese, soup, red wine and champagne. There are a great 
number of Red Cross and Y.M.C.A. women in this town and 
also many American soldiers as there is an aviation field just 
outside of here. Sgt. Gillespie played the piano for awhile 
and we had a pretty fair time; one can buy just about any¬ 
thing one wants here and the town seems to be a pretty nice 
one. It is a pretty place, all of the buildings very well built, 
nice wide streets, stores like one would expect to see in a real 
town, sidewalks all cement and in general a very inviting 
place. After we had finished our meal we all went down to 
catch the train which is to leave at 8:00 p.m. 

September 3, 1918:—This has been a dull day. At 5:30 
we had mess and then a few of we fellows played a little foot¬ 
ball. I don’t know where they ever got the foot-ball but we 
had a lot of fun with it. A Battery played E Battery a game 
of baseball this afternoon but the game ended in a fight be¬ 
tween the officers. During the evening we went over to a big 
open field where the band put on quite a little program, and 
just after we got back to the barracks a German bombing 
plane came over and we had to put all of the lights out so we 
all went to bed. The days are fine and the nights too, but 
they are very cold and we sleep cold. 

September 4, 1918:—I helped Sgt. [Richard M.] Bosson 
wrap some new wire on spools this a.m. and then we had our 
noon mess. Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift came back from school 


166 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


yesterday afternoon; and the boys played F Battery a game 
of ball this afternoon and were beaten 10 to 9 in a ten inning 
game. While the horses were eating we ate our noon mess 
and then we saddled up, only John Bosson, Pete [Clarence 
E.] Clift and myself were allowed to go; Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff 
went along. Capt. [Sidney S.] Miller and Capt. Taylor [of 
Purdue University Battery] were made Majors today, and 
Major Taylor is acting Lieutenant Colonel. We also got a 
little first and second class mail today. At 7:00 the details 
of A and B Batteries and 1st Battalion pulled out. We went 
right through Neufchateau and we are now in a very big 
woods five kilometers on the other side of Neufchateau. We 
looked the place over pretty well and decided to pull the battery 
into the woods, although it will be a hard job in the dark; it is 
very dark now as there is no moon. When we were all ready 
we went out to the edge of the road where we lay down and 
went to sleep until the battery came. 

September 5, 1918:—At 2:00 a.m. the battery pulled in and 
everything was put in place; [Charles J.] Hoover and I then 
made our beds on the ground and we went to sleep. The 
weather has been fine but we were awakened this morning 
by the bugle only to find that it was raining and drizzling, 
so we immediately put up a pup-tent. We are now about 
forty kilometers from the Toul front and we will probably be 
in action within the next week, our gun position on that front 
is already located. Several of our boys were taken to the 
hospital this morning for minor ailments, I think though that 
‘Skinny’ [Paul H.] Allen has appendicitis. At 4:80 Cpl. 
[John U.] Bosson awakened me and told me that we would 
leave at 6:00 with Lieut. [Clarence D.] Clift on another billet¬ 
ing detail. We did not leave until 7:00 and the dope is that 
we go nearly 40 kilometers. The battery started out at 8:00 
P.M. A and B Battery details met and we took the main 
Nancy highway until dark when some regimental markers 
turned us off to the left and from there on I slept in my sad¬ 
dle. We passed through some big rail center but I do not 
know what it was, not a light could be seen and we were not 
even allowed to smoke. We were all very sleepy and Johnny 
Bosson was even thrown off his horse because he ran into 
a truck in the dark while he was sleeping. The truck was 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


167 


standing still and he did not see it but he was not hurt. We 
came out on a main road about 1:30. 

September 6, 1918:—We pulled into a small town about 
2:00 A.M. and from there we cut off to the right toward the 
hills. Regimental headquarters and supply are billeted in the 
small town on the road but A and B Batteries kept on going 
up hill and down hill on the road to the right and finally got 
to the place where the batteries were to stay. At the place 
in this road where our battery is to stay the trees hang over 
from each side until the tops of them nearly touch one 
another, on one side there is a very steep slope going up and 
on the left side there is a very steep slope going down. The 
road is good but there is an awful grade and I don’t believe 
our horses can pull it. All the rest of the regiment is park¬ 
ing along this road somewhere; the country is really moun¬ 
tainous. It was light when our battery pulled into its place, 
three of our horses had been killed on the way because the 
pull had been too hard for them and we made just about forty 
kilometers during the night’s hike. There is no water for 
the horses within four kilometers, so they get none at all; at 
8:00 A.M. we had breakfast and then Johnny Bosson and I 
put up a pup-tent and went to bed, it has been raining all 
the time. During the night we could hear the rumble of the 
guns on the front and we could also see the flashes of some of 
the long distance guns. [Cpl. John U.] Bosson and I slept 
until 1:00 when we got up and went to noon mess. While 
eating we found out that we were only about eight kilometers 
from Toul. During the afternoon we slept some more and at 
4:30 we had a water call; at 5:00 we went to mess. We then 
got the order to move out at 8:30, Cpl. Bosson, Pete 
[Clarence E.] Clift, Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift and I started 
out at 7:30 on the usual billeting detail. It was raining very 
hard when we started out, but after we had gone about five 
kilometers it stopped and the stars came out very bright. We 
rode until 11:30 when we went through Toul, we also went 
along the Moselle River, very high banks, and the moon lighted 
things up for us. I imagine that during the day one could 
see some very beautiful scenery along this road. The crooks 
and turns in the streets through Toul were so many that I 
could hardly remember them, but on the far edge of the town 
I turned back to mark the way for the 1st. Battalion. Going 


168 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


back I had some awful times as the 149th was coming through 
and there were some very narrow places in the road. I simply 
got to the very edge of the high banks and then left my horse 
pick the way as a horse can find the way in the dark very 
much better than a human. Several times I had to pull my 
reins up in a hurry to keep my horse from falling but he 
finally got me in the clear and I went to a point along the 
Moselle River where I waited for the battery. 

September 7, 1918:—At 12:30 the 1st. Battalion came along 
and I dropped in line side of Major [Sidney S.] Miller and 
we marched along. There were many lights in Toul and we 
were allowed to smoke while going through. It was nearly 
2:30 A.M. when we got through the town. A regimental 
marker then came and I dropped back with Lieut. [Clarence 
E.] Trotter; then I started to get sleepy. I rode with Lieut. 
Trotter until about 3:30 and then I dropped back with the de¬ 
tail where we stole a few smokes and then I went to sleep in 
my saddle. I fell off of my horse once but we were going 
slow and I hopped back on and went to sleep again. One of 
our caissons got stuck and some of we detail men got off 
our horses and tried to help them out because it was very 
cold riding and a little work warmed us up an awful lot. We 
had to leave the caisson behind though as the men and horses 
combined could not get it out. Of course working on this 
caisson put us about a mile behind the battery so we started 
to walk with our horses to catch up with them. We had not 
gone far however when we came up on one of our char-de- 
parcs which had gotten in the ditch and being top heavy had 
tipped over onto its side. Men and horses are both all in, 
men are sleepy and the horses are worn out and that is why 
all of these things go into the ditches the way they do. At 
5:30 it started to get light and the caisson that we had left 
behind caught up with us again, but the ride from 5:30 to 
6:30 was absolute misery it was so cold. About 6:30 A.M. 
we pulled into a very big woods and the horses were imme¬ 
diately watered and fed; mess was not served until 8:30 so 
I got a bucket of water and took a good wash and shave 
before breakfast. Six of we fellows then spread our big 
fourgon tarpaulin between some trees and then went to bed. 
Six other men, Sgt. [Cecil L.] York and eight horses were 
sent back after the big char-de-parc that had gone in the 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


169 


ditch. Sgt. York returned with the char-de-parc about 1:00, 
all in good shape. At 1:00 we had mess and now we are 
organizing our junk, it is just one year today since we left 
Indianapolis. During the afternoon the battery boys groomed 
and I had charge of some men digging some incinerators 
for battery use. At 6:00 we had mess and while we were 
eating, the battery got orders to move into their position. 
The details of A and B Batteries went ahead and the Major 
sure took us at a lively clip, in fact our horses were about all 
in when we got there. We went forward eight and one half 
kilometers and located our position. The battery came in 
about 11:00. I took care of traffic, Perry [W. Lesh] and 
Pete [Clarence E. Clift] laid the guns, and the telephone men 
ran the lines. 

September 8, 1918:—The battery was in place and every¬ 
body went to bed at 2:00 a.m. We all got up at 5:00 a.m. 
took care of the horses and had breakfast and then we re¬ 
located the gun position and relaid the guns. In an old half¬ 
shot-down building near here, in this village, which is the 
village of Mandres, there is a branch of the Salvation Army 
and this morning nearly all of the boys slipped away and got 
two pan-cakes, syrup and a cup of coffee for nothing; they 
certainly treat the boys right. The commissaries and the 
Red Cross also gave out raincoats, underwear, sox and towels 
but the Y.M.C.A. are regular robbers. Lieut. [Clarence E.] 
Trotter and Dick [Richard M.] Bosson have gone up to the 
front to locate an O.P. and in another day Perry [Lesh], 
Pete [Clarence E. Clift] and I will be spending our time 
peering over ‘No Man’s Land’ in the St. Mihiel sector. For 
noon mess we had fried potatoes, hard tack and coffee and 
we are expected to keep alive on that, for I suppose we will 
get nothing but that from now on until we get off of the 
front. When I got back about 4:80 I went over to the 
Y.M.C.A. to try to get some food but they were closed so I 
went on up to the Salvation Army and they had run out so 
I came back and drew my battery mess which consisted of 
one half a box of hard tack, hot coffee and hot ‘corned willie’. 
Swell food for men who get as little sleep and do as much 
work as we do! After mess [Charles J.] Hoover and I went 
over to the Salvation Army where we bought some soap and 
safety razor blades and then the old man in charge gave us 


170 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


some great big California grapes and they surely went good. 
We then went back to the battery and at 8:00 we took the 
horses out to graze as they do not get half the food that 
they ought to. We brought them in about 10:00 and then 
we went to bed, Johnny Bosson and I slept together and we 
slept a little cool. 


CHAPTER IX 
The St. Mihiel Sector 

September 9, 1918:—We got up to the O.P. about 9:45 and 
we immediately went to work locating the different things of 
importance that we could see. The O.P. is right in the front 
lines which are very weakly held and it is about four kilo¬ 
meters in front of our guns. There is more artillery sta¬ 
tioned between our guns and the O.P. than I have ever seen 
before. The ‘big party’ is to start sometime between the 
15th and the 20th of this month and the first day’s objective 
is the village of Pannes. We can see the lay out of both 
the American and German infantries; the Americans are in 
the valley directly in front of our O.P. and the Germans are 
on the high ground just beyond. During the morning we 
located about fifteen villages that are now in German hands 
and also got the terrain pretty well in mind, during the after¬ 
noon B Battery worked at the O.P. and Perry [Lesh] and I 
went out in the big woods right in back of the O.P. and picked 
several hats of great big blackberries. The ‘dope’ is that there 
will be more Divisions in this drive than there ever have 
in any drive before this. During the night we had several 
thrills as we slept in the same stable with the horses. Sev¬ 
eral of them got loose and not being able to see they just about 
stepped all over us. 

September 10, 1918:—This morning [Carl] Moorman, 
Perry [Lesh] and I went up to the O.P. where we found a 
break in the line; Moorman had to run the line. When he 
got through to the battery and then got back to us it was 
about 10:30. Moorman brought with him a big tin box that 
was all sealed up and when we opened it we found that it 
contained hard tack. Moorman had found a break in the line 
at the edge of the woods, repaired it and on his way back 
to us had run on to this lot of food which is supposed to 
have been gassed and condemned. We however, went back 
and got more of it because being sealed in these tin boxes has 
kept it very well, I believe. For our noon mess we had hard 
tack and a can of beans that we brought along with us from 


( 171 ) 


172 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


the battery. After mess I got Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff to give 
me an order on the Y.M.C.A. and [Charles J.] Hoover and 
I went over the Y.M. where we got eight bars of chocolate, 
sixteen bars between us, and then we went back and divided 
with the rest of the fellows. 

September 11, 1918:—I have never seen so much artillery 
in such a small place in all my life before, one can see any 
kind of a gun used in the artillery and they sure are laid side 
by side: 75s, 155 howitzers, 155 rifles, 120 howitzers, 120 
long rifles and eight inch howitzers. These 120 long rifles 
are railroad guns and are stationed directly in front of our 
battery. Behind us there are many railroad guns ranging 
from 12 to 21 inch type. While up at the O.P. this morn¬ 
ing we saw quite a little more activity over on the German 
side but nothing out of the ordinary happened. For noon 
mess the cooks had given us some steak which Perry [Lesh] 
fried; that along with some sugar and hard tack we had car¬ 
ried with us made a very fine meal and we certainly ate 
heartily. We then moved our beds into a big dug-out to keep 
ourselves safe from falling walls, and then Perry and I went 
to bed. I am sure anxious for this ‘big party' to start. 

September 12, 1918:—At 1:05 a.m. the party started off; 
only the heavy artillery started the thing and according to 
all dope it was a big surprise to the Germans. There was 
so little retaliation fire that they used only about half the 
artillery they had up here and B and F Batteries of the 151st 
which is a three inch regiment went over the top just after 
the third wave of ‘doughboys.’ It is now 10:45 A.M. and I 
have not heard a German shell come over yet. There are 
very few Americans being wounded and the doughboys went 
three and one half kilometers without meeting any resistance. 
The tanks, especially, the small whippet tanks did some very 
wonderful work and are still going, they had advanced our 
line four and one-half kilometers at 7:00 a.m. There is only 
normal aerial activity going on at present and since I got 
up this morning they have marched about 250 German pris¬ 
oners through this little village. Our guns are firing and our 
detail have their horses and all of their equipment ready to 
move forward, many batteries of 75s are already going for¬ 
ward. At 10:00 a.m. Major [Sidney S.] Miller, Lieut. [Aloys] 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


173 


Knaff, Lieut. Vallandingham and the details from A and B 
Batteries started forward. We went through Baupaume, 
Seicheprey, St. Baussant, Essey and finally into Pannes. The 
road was certainly a sight, there were three columns of 
troops going forward on this one narrow little road. The 
road itself was in an awful condition, full of shell holes, 
bridges out and all torn up. The Engineers were working 
on the bridges and filling up the shell holes, wounded were 
being brought back this way, some few of the whippet tanks 
that had taken part in the drive were stuck in the marshes 
to the sides of the road, others were lying there silent, prob¬ 
ably silenced by a German shell or so, still others were puffing 
noisily along the road going toward the front. We were on 
our slope of the hill and we could overlook the whole valley 
that not twelve hours before was ‘No Man’s Land’ and now 
it is crowded with human bodies, both dead and alive. The 
drive had been a surprise to the Germans and they had left 
everything behind in their hurry to get out, and considering 
all of it, American casualties were very small, although some 
few American and German dead could be seen with no trouble 
along the sides of the road. Many motor trucks were in front 
of us trying to get up to the front and while we were walk¬ 
ing along we saw two of them turn completely over down 
the steep banks to our left. Ammunition could be seen every¬ 
where as could guns of all kinds, mostly German. In the 
small villages that we passed through we saw many, many 
French civilians who had lived in their old homes under Ger¬ 
man military rule ever since the beginning of the war. When 
our officers would pass them they would all come to atten¬ 
tion showing that the Germans had made them live and re¬ 
gard them as “the rulers” of the land, and when our 
men and officers treated them well they would do anything 
for their convenience. The villages we passed through in ‘No 
Man’s Land’ were, or rather had been, reduced to the ground. 
The allies certainly have control of the air thus far as I have 
seen hundreds of allied planes and not one German plane. 
Far in front of us we could see fires and smoke where the 
Germans were setting things on fire as they retreated and 
group after group of from 20 to 200 German prisoners passed 
us as we went along; our infantry is still going. It had rained 
during the night but during all of the day the sun shone very 


174 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


brightly. The Germans are retreating so fast and our in¬ 
fantry advancing so fast that there is no artillery fire at all 
now. Just before we got into Pannes our detail stopped and 
the officers went on ahead into the village while we waited at 
the cross roads. We had not been there long when German 
artillery started to fire and of course cross roads are good 
targets. We were sitting along side the road holding our 
horses when the shells started to come over and we sure had 
to get out of the way in a hurry. Three or four shells lit 
very close to where we had been sitting and we sat there and 
watched them tear up the road as they burst. Finally Dick 
[Richard M. Bosson] came back from Pannes; he had gone 
up with the officers, and told us to come on up so we took a 
cut across the field to avoid the cross road and went on in 
to Pannes. There we ran into a German canteen and in it 
was anything a fellow could want, officer’s quarters, maps, 
books, field glasses, pistols, automatics, food, horses and any 
kind of equipment one could wish for. Right in front of the 
canteen stood a wagon all loaded with things from some Ger¬ 
man officer’s quarters. We went through it and found ivory 
toilet sets, the best of turkish towels and a thousand other 
things worth real money. We went into the canteen and 
there we got cigarettes, cigars, candies, soap, towels, matches, 
cakes and much other food and then we went down into the 
cellar of the canteen and there to our surprise sat two Amer¬ 
ican ‘doughboys,’ dirty, just full of mud, packs on their backs 
and rifles at their sides, but Oh, Boy! they were sure drunk 
because the cellar was filled with champagne and beer and 
they certainly had gotten their share of it. We then came 
up and left the ‘doughboys’ to their drink while we located our 
gun position, and then the whole detail came up. Of course 
all of them were sent somewhere with messages, or sent back 
to bring a part of the battery up. All but the firing battery 
is to stay in Essey and Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff and I took care 
of that. We also saw American boys with German single 
mounts and all of their equipment that they had found. 

September 13, 1918:—At day break we both got up and 
immediately went out to pillage or rather to get something 
to eat; while I was looking around I found a brand new 
German aiming circle and Dick [Richard M.] Bosson found 
a new Mauser automatic. The battery got stuck near 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


175 


Seicheprey and could not get any farther so they pulled to 
the side of the road and of course have not gotten here yet, 
some few 75s are passing here now and I am merely guard¬ 
ing our position until someone from the battery gets here. 
Pete [Prescott W.] Hill is guarding the echelon for the firing 
battery. At 7:00 A.M. we got into an old German billet where 
we found a great deal of food, so we got to work making a 
square meal. We had fried potatoes, fried hard tack, honey 
and to top it off we found a while pen full of rabbits and we 
certainly put a good fry on one of them. While we were eat¬ 
ing, three big tanks pulled into our barn lot and of course 
after the meal we went out to look them over, French manned 
the large tanks and the Americans manned the small tanks; 
the large tanks carry two 75s and four machine guns while 
the small ones carry two one-pounders and three machine 
guns. At 9:00 A.M. our fourgon pulled in along with some of 
our detail men who had been out on messages or work of 
some sort, there is no artillery firing at all. At 1:30 the 
order came down for us to report back to the battery at 
Seicheprey and so we immediately started back. We had 
the fourgon loaded down with all kinds of junk, lard in cans, 
a box of live rabbits, sugar, German helmets, shoes, under¬ 
wear and many other things; Roderich with the little firing 
cart, followed us. Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff, Cpl. [Leslie H.] 
Coleman, [Latham W.] Connell and I went on ahead when 
traffic got so heavy that we could not pass. The roads were 
certainly a sight, artillery, ‘doughboys,’ tanks, supply wagons, 
and everything was going toward the front. We got back 
to the battery at Seicheprey about 2:00 P.M. and there to 
our disgust we found out that Lieut. Stevenson had lost the 
kitchen and there was no food along with the battery, one of 
the char-de-parcs is also in the ditch somewhere not very 
far in the rear of us. The fellows from the gun squads were 
all asleep in the ruined buildings of Seicheprey. At 4:00 
P.M. [George H.] Aurine and [Farrell E.] Potter came in 
and told us that the fourgon had broken a wheel and had 

t 

gone in the ditch and that Roderich had started on with the 
firing cart. 

September 14, 1918:—We got up at 7:00 A.M.; the fourgon 
and the kitchen had come in during the night so we had a 
good breakfast this morning. Just after breakfast Byron 


176 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Young came in with an escort wagon; he had been lost for 
three days. At 8:30 the drivers lined up to groom and Dick 
[Richard M.] and I reorganized the fourgon after the shak¬ 
ing up it had had from falling in the ditch. Carl Moorman 
got himself a German officer's horse and he is certainly in 
luck since many of the horses are all shot to pieces, and too, 
a great many of them are dead and we have not by far as 
many horses as we ought to have. Dick and I worked on 
the fourgon until 11:00 when the firing cart came in and 
Johnny Bosson had his single mount hitched to it. The cart 
horse was tied to the rear of the cart and was just about all 
in. The ‘doughboys' are still bringing prisoners in and they 
say that there are about two thousand more in the hills around 
Montsec. One can hear no firing at all and it seems as though 
there is no war now, nevertheless, our balloons are up all 
around us. Balloons are now up far in front of us so the 
‘doughboys’ must be very far ahead as balloons are never closer 
than two kilometers from the front lines. On our way up 
today we wound in and out the traffic until at last we came 
to Essey where our regimental P.C. is now located. From 
there the Bn. A and B Battery details went forward through 
Pannes and nearly to Beney where Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff and 
I located our position, and the battery came up immediately. 
After the guns had been pulled into position Perry [Lesh] 
and I laid the pieces and arranged everything so that the bat¬ 
tery could fire at a moment’s notice. Only Pete [Clarence] 
Clift, Perry [Lesh] and four of the telephone men stayed at 
the guns. I slept with the rest of the fellows under the big 
tarpaulin in the telephone central. 

September 15, 1918:—Our battery is located behind a big 
hedge and is pretty well hidden from view, we only have to 
step through this hedge and we can see the little village of 
Beney which this morning is certainly getting its share of 
the shelling. We are just about one kilometer on this side 
of Beney; during the morning I walked over to the edge of the 
big woods which is very close to our battery and looked at 
some tanks that are hidden there, the allies still have con¬ 
trol of the air here. A few shells have started to come over 
from the German side and some of them lit very close to our 
kitchen; during the afternoon our battery fired a little. About 
2:00 p.m. several Bn. men and myself went up to an O.P. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


177 


This O.P. is located in a very big tree and is about eighty feet 
from the ground. It was formerly a German O.P. but now 
we are turning it around on them. From this O.P. we have 
a splendid view over the German lines, but a large woods 
shuts off the view of our own lines. I stayed up at the O.P. 
until about 5:30 and then I came in to the battery where I got 
my mess; I then went up to the officer’s tent where I told 
Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter all about my trip to the O.P. 
During the evening I wrote a few letters and then went to 
bed; during the night there was a great deal of artillery ac¬ 
tivity, a great deal of aerial activity and some bombing pretty 
close to our position but not enough to keep us from going to 
sleep. 

September 16, 1918:—At 9:30 Pete [Clarence E.] Clift 
and I went up to the O.P. alone, none of the officers having 
‘pep’ enough to walk that far I suppose. When we got up 
there two of Bns. men were working with their scissors and 
so we worked with them all day long. During the day, 
through the glasses we saw several infantry skirmishes and 
also a little shelling, but as a whole the front didn’t put out 
any real excitement. From the O.P. we can see the villages 
of Haumont, Hageville, Dommartin, Dampvitoux, St. Julien, 
Xammes, Beney, Lachaussee and several other interesting 
points. I located all of these points on my map and did about 
as much as I could do with Bn’s men working there at the 
same time. There was some mail for me at the battery when 
I returned this P.M. but the battery had a hurry-up call to fire 
on Marimbois Farm, and I had to go back up to the O.P. and 
adjust the fire. When I got back to the battery I ate mess 
with the rest of the fellows and read my mail and then they 
gave us some cigarettes and cakes the Y.M.C.A. had left for 
us. 

September 17, 1918:—At 5:30 a.m. I got up and went with 
Sgt. [Richard M.] Bosson to run a line from the O.P. to the 
battery position. During the afternoon Major [Sidney S.] 
Miller and Lieut. [Clarence E.] Trotter came up to the O.P. 
and we fired on an old house near the Lachaussee Farm, aided 
by aerial observation. While Major Miller was there a 
courier came with a message for him, and from it I found 
out that the 1st. Bn. was under the command of Col. Leach; 


12—22902 


178 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


the 2nd. Bn. under the command of Col. [Robert H.] Tyndall, 
and the 3d Bn. under the command of Col. Riely. About 
5:30 Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff called me over the phone and told 
me to come in to the gun position and when I got there he 
told me that we were going to move and that I should call 
Perry [Lesh] and tell him to bring all of the junk in, which 
by the way, Perry could not do alone in two days, because 
there is about enough stuff at the O.P. to make a good load 
for three men and then he has to get all of it down out of the 
tree. I packed my junk and finally Lt. Knaff wouldn’t wait 
so we started toward the O.P. Both the gun echelon and the 
rear echelon were packed and ready to move at a moment’s 
notice. About half way to the O.P. we met Perry struggling 
along under the weight of all the instruments and through 
mud actually knee deep. Lieut. Knaff promptly hopped all 
over Perry for being so long in bringing the things back and 
all of we fellows were sore enough at Knaff to tell him just 
what we thought of him but of course we could not. Perry 
simply dropped the things in the mud and told Knaff that he 
wasn’t a pack horse and went on in to the guns. Our detail 
then went on over to Beney where the details were collecting 
to receive orders. There we waited for about an hour and 
finally the orders were changed and we came on back to the 
guns. Since we have been up here our guns have done quite 
a bit of firing, the nights have been very moon light and cold, 
but the days are very bright and pleasant. At about 10:30 
I went to bed. There was no bombing done during the night. 

September 18, 1918:—On our way up to the O.P. this A.M. 
we met Lieut. [Field] Daily of 2nd Bn. and he went on up 
to the O.P. with us so that he could find a point on which 
he could adjust D Battery. At 1:30 Lieut. Chambers, a 
former Indiana University student, and Lieut. Daily also a 
former I.U. student came up to the O.P. and started to ad¬ 
just D Battery. Later on in the afternoon Lieut. Bonafield 
and Capt. Clair Scott came up to the O.P. and we had a regu¬ 
lar old I.U. session in the top of the old tree. It was sure 
good to see some of the old fellows together again. The rain 
has made it very muddy and disagreeable and the fellows are 
very discouraged, then too we have heard that we are to stay 
here all winter, dig dug-outs and fix for the winter and the 
fellows certainly hate to think of it. I do not think though 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


179 


that we are going to stay because the 89th Division is pull¬ 
ing in all around us and I think we will be relieved; I cer¬ 
tainly hope so because I am sure tired of this mud. I wrote 
a few letters after evening mess and at 10:80 I went to bed; 
slept very well as there was no bombing during the night. 

September 19, 1918:—This morning when I got up I started 
to look for my horse so that I could feed him but he was gone. 
I immediately ate my breakfast and then went out to find him. 
I walked all over these woods and all over the country around 
here and I could not find him, so I came back and told Lieut. 
[Aloys] Knaff. He told me to go out and steal one so Cpl. 
[Howard H.] Maxwell and I started out after one. We 
worked until noon but we could have no luck so we came on 
in to the guns. I had a little fight with one of the 841st ar¬ 
tillery boys this evening on account of the horses but I don’t 
suppose we will have any more trouble with them. Just after 
dark Cpl. Maxwell and I went out again to try to steal a horse 
but could have no luck so we came in and I went to bed. It 
was certainly one of the most miserable nights I have ever 
spent. It rained and the water ran in and I got all wet. I 
had only one blanket and it certainly was cold. 

September 20, 1918:—This morning when I got up I found 
out that Lieuts. [Aloys] Knaif, [Charles D.] Clift, and 
[Clarence E.] Trotter’s horses were gone, and believe me they 
sure raved. Lieut. Trotter and I then went out and located 
a new gun position and a place to dig in for the winter. We 
had to go out on foot as our horses were all gone. When 
we got back to the battery we found that Lieut. Trotter’s 
orderly had gone out and found all of the horses but mine. 
While Trotter and I were on our way back I was carrying the 
aiming circle on my shoulder, walking along a narrow gauge 
railway. I had my head down watching the ties I was step¬ 
ping on when I ran into old ‘Matt’ [Mathew] Winters, and 
it was a treat to see him too. He is the first of the fellows 
I have seen outside of our battery or regiment since I have 
been over here. After we had put our instruments away I 
started out to find where some of the 841st artillery was 
parked so that I could look over their horse line in hopes of 
finding mine. I walked all the way in to Pannes and then 
came back to the battery where I arrived in time for noon 


mess. 


180 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


September 21, 1918:—This morning when we got up it was 
raining and very cold; after we had eaten our breakfasts Pete 
[Clift] and I went up to the O.P. and tried to do some ob¬ 
serving, but visibility was so bad that we could do nothing 
so we came down out of the tree. At 11:30 we went back 
up into the tree and about ten minutes later Lieut. [Aloys] 
Knaff called up and told me to come in as the detail would go 
out immediately. We took the necessary instruments and 
started out. We met Capt. [Humphrey A.] Barbour and his 
detail and we all fell in line. We went through Nonsard and 
then north to the big Nonsard woods or the Bois-de-Nonsard 
which used to be a German rest camp. It was certainly fixed 
up in great style, all stone roads, rustic work throughout the 
whole place, wooden cantonments, a narrow gauge railroad 
and all. Sgt. [William H.] Bruning had gone along with us 
and he immediately went back to bring up the rear echelon. 
Lieut. Knaff and I located a place for the guns and then we 
went back to the rear echelon. Immediately after we had 
returned to the guns we went up to the O.P. to adjust A and 
B Batteries but the 2nd. Battalion had nosed in on our O.P. 
and we had to wait. While there we noticed that the Ger¬ 
mans were shelling our whole front lines, Xammes was re¬ 
ceiving the worst of it; this is more shelling than has been 
done by the Germans for a long while. After 2nd Bn. got 
through with the O.P. and we got in to our work it took us 
but very little time to adjust the two batteries and then we 
went in to mess. The Y.M.C.A. has been “putting out a lit¬ 
tle” and most of the fellows were given some soap and a towel 
but there is no place to use it. The boys certainly need a 
bath and cooties are awful. There was a great deal of shell¬ 
ing last night and hardly ever a night passes that someone 
is not killed in Beney. The Germans put over some gas last 
night but it did not get to us, although it did get two of the 
men in Beney. 

September 22, 1918:—After eating breakfast ‘Pete' 

[Clarence E. Clift] and I went up to the O.P. where I tried 
to make a sketch but it was so windy and misty that I could 
have no luck. At 11:80 I went in after my mess, the tele¬ 
phone boys had found some potatoes some place and had 
fried them up so we had a pretty fair meal. Early in the 
afternoon it started to rain and we packed things up and went 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


181 


on in to the battery. During the rest of the afternoon I lay 
around the telephone tent until evening mess time, and then 
we all put our slickers on and went down to the kitchen. 
After mess I crawled into Perry’s [Lesh’s] tent where Perry, 
[Howard H.] Maxwell and I voiced our grievances against 
the army. I slept very well until about 4:00 a.m. when I had 
to get up and lay the fourth piece. About 4:15 an awful 
barrage started from our guns and of course we had but little 
sleep from then on. 

September 23, 1918: Just as we were eating breakfast the 
third piece came in. It has been in the repair shop ever 
since we were in Mandres. After I had laid that piece Lieut. 
[Aloys] Knaff and two escort wagons went to the new gun 
position where we are expected to move to at any moment. 
It is still raining and of course we are still wearing damp 
clothes and wet shoes. It is very miserable out now, the mud 
is really knee deep, it is cold and it seems to have started to 
rain for good now. The fellows are getting very discouraged 
now as we have not seen a human aside from soldiers since 
we went through Toul. We have not seen a female for a very 
long, long, while now. At 6:00 P.M. we broke camp and got 
everything in readiness to move and at 7:00 we pulled out, 
still raining. ‘Pete’ [Clarence E.] Clift and I walked behind 
the big char-de-parc until we got to Nonsard and then we 
climbed upon the big wagon and rode the rest of the way. 
We have to be very careful as this big char-de-parc has a 
reputation of tipping over every once in a while. We entered 
the big woods about 8:30 and it was sure dark and rainy, 
luckily the roads being all repaired it was very easy to go 
into position. 

September 24, 1918:—This morning after we ate our break¬ 
fasts we organized our junk. We then went out to do some 
traverse work to check our work of last night. This work 
took us until noon and we had a pretty good mess as the bat¬ 
teries are feeding very well now. Last night [Bryant W.] 
Gillespie and I combined our tents, he also borrowed one of 
the stretchers from the medics and we now have a fairly good 
home. After Gillespie and I had finished I plotted my 
traverse on the plotting board and gave the results to Lieut. 
Knaff. By the time I had finished it was evening mess time 


182 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


and after I had eaten evening mess Gillespie and I got some 
straw and put it on our bunks and went to bed. About 4:00 
a.m. I got very sick. I went outside once about 4:30 and 
while there I got so sick that I laid down on the ground. It 
was very cold and the ground was full of frost. I do not 
remember any more about what I did outside but when I 
awakened I was in our tent covered up. Gillespie had missed 
me and knowing that I was sick, he came out to look for me, 
and found me on the ground; he took me to our tent and put 
me to bed. It was very cold in bed and consequently very 
miserable. 

September 25, 1918:—I did not get up this morning as I 
had the cramps so bad that I could not bear being up. Sgt, 
[Bryant W.] Gillespie brought me some breakfast but I could 
not eat it; I do not believe that 1 ever felt so miserable. It 
seems like we are going to stay here for quite a while be¬ 
cause all of the gun sections are building shacks for their 
sections and the telephone and detail men are building one 
together. Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift was out on a little ex¬ 
ploring party all by himself and he found a great deal of lum¬ 
ber and an old saw-mill, so they are getting all of the mate¬ 
rial from there. At noon Sgt. Gillespie brought me some more 
mess but I could not eat it; I stayed in bed all afternoon. 
Sgt. Gillespie has been a very good ‘nurse girl’ since I have 
been sick and this evening he brought me some more mess. 
About 8:00 he came to bed and after we had talked for a lit¬ 
tle while we went to sleep, but at 12:00 the battery started 
to fire and they continued until 6:00 this morning. Ammu¬ 
nition is coming in all the time and the boys surely get rid of 
it in a hurry; Sgt. Gillespie has no longer got a section to 
fool with, he has charge of all ammunition reports and gas 
supplies. During the whole night I felt very well. 

September 26, 1918:—This morning Sgt. [Bryant W.] 
Gillespie brought me my breakfast and about 9:00 I got up. 
I walked down to where the boys were working on our shack 
and it certainly looks like it is going to be a regular place. 
While I was there [Fred W.] Jordan the battery agent came 
along and he happened to have some recent papers, so I sat 
down and read until noon. After I had finished my mess 
Sgt. [Bryant W.] Gillespie, Perry [Lesh], ‘Pete' [Clarence 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


183 


E. Clift] and I all crawled into our tent where we ate a can 
of jam that I had stolen from the officer’s mess. After we 
had partaken of the jam we all indulged in a very thorough 
cootie hunt, and I’ll have to admit that our luck was far 
above fair. About 11:00 we all crawled beneath the covers 
and went to sleep. 

September 27, 1918: This morning after I had eaten my 
mess I went down with the fellows to work on the shack but 
I did not get to stay long as Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff came down 
and had me saddle up my horse and at 11:00 we started out 
with stadia rod and aiming circle. We went up near St. 
Benoit and from a cross road near there we located a new gun 
position. During the afternoon I helped the fellows on the 
shack and I also helped Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff locate another 
new gun position. Our shack will be finished in a few days 
and then we will have a good place to stay, our food is get¬ 
ting very poor again and there is very little stuff coming in 
from the Y.M.C.A. 

September 28, 1918:—This morning as soon as we had fin¬ 
ished our breakfasts we all went directly to the shack where 
we divided the work between the gang. Sgt. [Bryant W.] 
Gillespie, Perry [Lesh], ‘Pete’ [Clarence Clift], ‘Pug’ [Rogers 
H. George] and a few other fellows took a car on the little 
tramway and went down to the old German sawmill where 
they got some lumber and stuff that we needed. I stayed at 
the shack and tacked the tar-paper on the outside. About 
10:00 Gillespie and the boys got back with a car load of ma¬ 
terial and then we all got to work and worked hard until noon 
mess, and after noon mess we all went back and got to work 
again. We worked until evening mess time when we had 
finished up and have moved into our new home. Inside there 
is room for eight men, a big writing desk and a telephone 
central. I think the battery will fire tonight and the fellows 
are taking precautions because the battery fired last night and 
they broke our window and blew the tin roof all loose. The 
whole second platoon has now gone to the repair shop and 
when it returns the first platoon will move down more to 
the right of us. Our food is very, very rotten and the boys 
are sure letting them know about it. Sgt. Gillespie is here 
working on an old German rifle which he expects to keep 


184 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


but I don't believe he will ever have it when we get home. 
We have no O.P. yet. 

September 29, 1918:—This morning we had pan-cakes for 
breakfast and I want to say they sure went big. We camou¬ 
flaged our shack this A.M. with branches and put duck-board 
walks from the door out to the road and put in a stove that 
the fellows found down at the German sawmill. At noon we 
had the real camouflage soup for mess and the fellows cer¬ 
tainly yelled about it. Our new O.P. is far up toward the 
front between Vigneulles and Hattonchatel; it is on a very 
high point and we can see all over the German lines. On 
the way up 'Pete' [Clift] and I stopped at a French kitchen 
and begged a meat sandwich; we afterward found out that 
the meat was real horse meat and I must say that it was not 
at all bad only a little tough. From the new O.P. Lieut. 
[Clarence E.] Trotter adjusted the battery and then left; 
‘Pete' then went up to Hattonchatel where he bought some 
milk and stationary and I met him at Vigneulles on his way 
back. The Germans stayed in this part of the country for 
quite a while and they had things fixed up right, all of the 
country was covered with gardens and there were more grapes 
than one could eat in a year. They also had a big concrete 
swimming pool and many other things that would tend to 
make things comfortable. They certainly had expected to 
stay awhile. When we got in we ate our mess and then sat 
down and read some mail that had come in during the after¬ 
noon. ‘Pete’ and I then sat down to write some letters. 
After I had finished writing I sat up in my bunk and read 
a story in the Cosmopolitan and then went to sleep. 

September 30, 1918:—About 2:00 o'clock this afternoon a 
German 120 rifle fired on Hattonchatel and some of them came 
all the way over and lit very close to where we were. At 
4:00 visibility was so poor and it was so very cold that we 
started in to the battery. The O.P. is up on a very, very 
high point probably five hundred feet above the rest of the 
country and from it one can see very, very far, but of course 
it gets very cold up there as the wind has an open sweep at 
it. When we got in to the battery we found out that we were 
to move so you can imagine how we felt. We immediately 
ate our mess and then packed our junk. Our horses had 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


185 


been sent out from the echelon where we had sent them to be 
worked on while we were up here and now we are awaiting 
orders. At 6:00 p.m. it was dark so we all lit candles and 
sat around in the shack, about 9:00 Lieut. [Chas. D.] Clift 
came in and said that he did not know when the order would 
be down so we unsaddled our horses, took the blankets and 
went to bed. The echelon started out at 8:00, and at 10:00 
Sgt. [Bryant W.] Gillespie left with a char-de-parc; at 11:00 
we were awakened, so we saddled our horses and at 
11:30 we started out. We went out of the big woods to the 
right over through Nonsard and about three kilometers out 
of Nonsard we pulled into another big woods where we will 
stay for the night. After camouflaging the fourgon and cart 
we all went to bed, at 3:00 a.m. 

October 1, 1918:—At 8:00 a.m. we all got up watered and 
fed the horses and had our own breakfasts. At 10:00 we had 
a grooming formation and at 11:00 the horses were again 
led out to water. At 1:30 Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff told [Fred 
W.] Turner, [Farrell E.] Potter and I to get ready to go on 
a billeting detail, and at 2:00 we started. We traveled un¬ 
til 6:30 p.m. always going toward the Verdun front and we 
finally pulled into a small village where we sat down until 
the Lieutenants found a place for the batteries. It was still 
light when we arrived in this little village and of course we 
were hungry but old “bull headed” Knaff would not let us 
go out after any food. The echelon started out at 8:30 P.M. 
At 9:30 P.M. Lt. Knaff, who was out looking the country over 
sent for us and we went about one kilometer back on the 
road we had come on, and there he showed us where he 
wanted everything. There are some very old broken down 
cantonments here and in these we are going to stay until the 
battery arrives. We have to put on a guard over this place 
so that no one can get in before our battery comes so I stood 
the first ‘hitch’. I had so very few clothes on, and it is so 
very cold that I was almost frozen, so at 11:30 I awakened 
Potter who had crawled in between horse blankets with 
Turner. Potter stood about three hours guard and he got so 
cold that he had to call Turner, so Turner stood until day¬ 
light when the 149th and the 151st started to come by. 


October 2, 1918:—After I had started to move about this 
morning I realized that I had an awful cold, my chest is very 




186 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


sore and I have an awful headache. The boys who had been 
with the battery all night long were simply shot to pieces, 
very cold and hungry. Some of the fellows had not been 
idle all night for as they had gone along with the column they 
ran into a divisional ration dump and they surely made a haul. 
They got several cans of bacon, several cans of beans, some 
syrup and bread, so we found an old stove where we fried 
some bacon and bread and had a pretty fair meal. All of our 
fellows were looking around for food as our kitchen had gotten 
lost during the night and so they could not feed the men. 
Battalion headquarters fed some of them and some of them 
went to bed without any food. After we had eaten the food 
that we had we all made our beds in one of the old torn down 
cantonments and went to sleep. We now have only 140 
horses left as the hikes are too much for them, in fact every 
hike kills a few of them. We are now only 19 kilometers 
from Verdun. We slept until 12:30 when we got up and had 
noon mess and we also got orders to be ready to move at 2:15 
P.M. We went through several small villages and after rid¬ 
ing only one and one half hours we came to an old camp 
which is on the top of a very steep hill and we started on 
our usual plans for the battery. The place we were in was 
Villers-sur-Meuse. We watered and fed our horses, ate our 
luuch and then [Fred] Turner went down into a little village 
nearby and bought two bottles of champagne, it cost him 
eighteen francs a bottle but as the weather is getting cold we 
needed it. Our camp is directly opposite one of the U.S.A. 
advance hospitals. The scenery is very beautiful, large hills, 
trees just turning to their fall colors and the white roads 
winding throughout the valleys below, in all very pleasant. 
[Fred W.] Turner, [Farrell E.] Potter and I took all of our 
equipment, put it in a fine little house which is built half in 
the ground, made our beds, drank our champagne and then 
waited for the battery to pull in. At 11:00 P.M. it was very 
cold so we took our horses and went down on the road where 
we rode to keep warm but it was not long before the regi¬ 
ments started to pull up. The whole regiment is pulling to 
the top of this hill and our Battalion is at the rear of the 
whole line. By the time the second and third Battalions had 
cleared the road it was 3:00 A.M. and we were about frozen; 
our battery had just started to climb the hill which is the big¬ 
gest pull that the battery has ever made. By 4:30 the outfit 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


187 


was on top of the hill and by 5:00 a.m. the three of us were 
in bed. 

October 3, 1918:—The fellows are very much in need of 
new, clean clothes and a bath. I would hate to say how long 
it has been since we have had a bath and the cooties are sim¬ 
ply fierce. The regimental band has been playing all evening 
and it surely does sound well. After we had finished shaving 
the three of us stretched out on our beds and smoked and 
talked of the good food we used to get at home, also of the 
doughnuts that [Charles] Stammer used to bake back at home. 
It gets dark very early now and these woods are certainly as 
dark at night as any place one could want, so we went to bed 
early hoping for a good breakfast. Sgt. Byron Young is act¬ 
ing mess Sgt. now as Sgt. [Glenn] Bozell and a few more of 
the cooks were sent to the hospital today. 

October 4, 1918:—We were awakened at 2:00 a.m. this 
morning and told that we would have to leave at 4:30. At 
4:15 Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff [Fred W.] Turner, [Farrell E.] 
Potter and I, along with the regimental billeting detail left. 
The battery started at 4:30 but the two big char-de-parcs 
turned turtle going down the big hill and so they did not get 
on their way until about 7:00, and then they had to leave a 
detail of men behind to bring these wagons up later. Our 
detail had just started on their way when a very fierce bar¬ 
rage started in front of us; it was very uncomfortable riding 
as it was raining and misting nearly all of the time. About 
8:30 though when the sun came out it warmed up quite a bit 
and then riding was very pleasant. We rode parallel to the 
front until about 9:00 a.m. when we stopped in a small town 
to await orders from the divisional billeting officer. This 
little town happened to be the Hdqrs. for the 3d. Army corps 
and there was a little more life in it than is usually found in 
one of these small villages. For a long time we watched 
an aeroplane that was taking messages to and from the front; 
it would fly very low over the signal plot and drop the 
weighted message. Then the men in charge would send the 
aeroplane a message by the panel system from the ground. 
We went about six kilometers toward the Verdun Front and 
then turned into a big woods. In this woods the whole regi¬ 
ment will be quartered. The barrage had died down by this 
time and the report is that we have gained about 30 kilo- 


188 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


meters. Our battery did not pull in until about 3:00 P.M. 
and the boys were all in from working so hard helping our 
few horses to pull us to where we wanted to go. After they 
got in the horses were watered and fed and then I went over 
to B battery and had mess with them. After I had finished 
eating with B battery I went to the A battery mess line 
where I lined up and got a second meal. We have only three 
caissons left as the other three were salvaged so that we could 
get horses enough to pull the pieces. [Leslie H.] Coleman 
and I have pitched our pup-tent together and are now going 
to bed, it is trying to rain. 

October 5, 1918:—At 7:00 this morning we got up and had 
a good breakfast after which the horses were watered and 
fed. We had a good noon mess also, and during the after¬ 
noon the regimental band put on a fine concert, but instead 
of our men getting to go to the concert they had to stay in 
and wash harness and graze horses. At 5:00 the horses were 
again watered and fed, and then we went to a pretty fair 
evening mess, but there was not enough of it. So after mess 
old [Harry A.] Sturdevant who had stolen some bacon some¬ 
where gave me a piece and we fried bacon. I also went out 
and stole a loaf of bread and we fried bread. 

October 6, 1918:—We got up at 7:00 this morning and were 
told that we would leave at 9:30. We traveled about twenty- 
five kilometers toward the front. I have never seen any coun¬ 
try so shot up as this is. The ground is simply full of shell 
holes and the woods we have been passing through are barren 
as they can be. We arrived at our destination about 2 :00 
P.M. and the battery pulled in about 6 :00. We are not quite 
up to the front, in fact we are right in the balloon line and 
there are very many American balloons and planes up around 
here. The barrage is still going on. [Leslie H.] Coleman 
and I started to put up a pup-tent but we could not find space 
enough between the shell holes to put it so we took our 
shelter halves, put them on the ground, put our blankets on 
them and went to bed. Coleman had a bottle of wine and 
we drank about half of it before we went to sleep. It rained 
during the night but we pulled our shelter halves up over our 
heads and kept dry the whole night. 


October 7, 1918:—At 7:00 this morning we got up and 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


189 


while we were still in the mess line Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff told 
‘Dick’ [Richard M.] Bosson, [Fred W.] Turner, ‘Pete’ 
[Clarence E. Clift], [Latham W.] Connell and I to get ready 
to leave immediately. When we got to the edge of Montfaucon 
the Colonel stopped and we all dismounted. We took the in¬ 
struments that we had along and walked through, and far 
to the right of Montfaucon where the Colonel showed us a 
big valley where he said we could put our gun positions. 
Lieut. Knaff assigned all of the other fellows to certain duties 
while he and I went to work locating the position. On our 
way through Montfaucon I stopped to watch some M.Ps. 
search an old dug-out, and while I was there they found that 
it was full of Germans. I stood at the mouth of the dug-out 
which went down into the ground about twenty steps, while 
the M.Ps. went down into it. They had only gotten down a 
few steps when we heard the Germans yell “Kamerad”, 
“Kamerad”. One of the M.P.s happened to be able to speak 
German and he told them to come on out as they would not 
be harmed, so out they came; there were three of them and 
they were sure sights, muddy, cold and hungry as they had 
probably been in there since the drive started. We then asked 
them whether or not there were any more of them down there 
and they said that there were five dead ones down there, so 
we told them to go down and carry them out, which they did. 
The five dead ones were all blue and swelled up for they had 
been killed by gas. We immediately made them dig a grave 
for the five and we watched them bury them and put a cross 
with the name of each at the head of the grave. They were 
all buried in the same hole. When these three marched out 
of the dug-out they came up the steps with their hands in 
the air and their heads hanging down. I then went on and 
caught up with the char-de-parcs and took them to the 
echelon. After I had gotten them settled I started on back 
to the battery where I arrived in time to pitch my pup-tent 
with [Lawrence E.] Kunkler. At 8:30 P.M. the pieces and 
caissons were pulled in, Perry [Lesh] put up the aiming posts 
and ‘Pete’ [Clift] and I laid the pieces; after that was done 
we went over to the kitchen where we ate some “corned willie” 
and drank some black coffee. The Germans are on the left, 
right, and in front of us, and we are taking care of the center 
of a gap in the line. We are in a big valley very well pro- 


190 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


tected by hills on three sides but on the fourth side we are 
open; this is the Argonne Woods. It has been raining all 
day long, or rather misting and so there have been no planes 
up all day but there has been a very great deal of artillery 

fire from both sides ever since we came into this sector. In 

♦ 

Montfaucon there are only about four walls standing and 
the roads through the town are nearly impassable because 
there is so much debris lying around. The Germans have 
been putting harassing fire over from all three directions to¬ 
day and it is very nerve wracking. The noise is fierce and the 
whole place seems to be a rather puzzling problem. We went 
to bed about 9:45. 


CHAPTER X 

The Meuse-Argonne Front 

October 8, 1918:—This morning when [Lawrence E.] 
Kunkler and I awakened we were in a puddle of water and 
we were wet and cold thru; and I have not had my clothes off 
or a change of underwear for just one month now. We are 
not allowed to have any surplus equipment out here so the 
officer’s and my horses are the only ones out here. Perry 
[Lesh], ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. Clift], myself and enough men to 
run the telephone central are all of the detail men who stay 
out here at the guns. The Germans have been dropping 
shells around us all day and right near us there have been 
ten men killed and about twice as many injured. B Battery 
had one man killed and several wounded; the weather has 
been so bad that there has been very little aerial activity. 
During the afternoon Kunkler and I built ourselves a new 
home by digging down one foot and a half, putting up some 
sand bags and lining the thing with straw. We then pitched 
our pup-tents over the whole thing. About 3:00 P.M. when 
we were working on our home a shell lit nearly on our third 
piece and killed one of our new men by the name of Johnston 
and wounded [Charles E.] Vincent, [Robert G.] Hayes, 
[Robert L.] McKay and [Ervin M.] Johannas. At 5:30 I 
watered and fed my horse and then went to our new tent 
where I wrote up my diary which I have let ‘ride’ for three 
days now. It has been raining all day and I have been wet 
and cold since yesterday. I notice that living this life I get 
as stiff as a board all the time, and at night my hands and 
feet go to sleep very easily which is very annoying as it al¬ 
ways awakens me. The shelling has been very, very heavy 
today and one has to be very careful, keep in one’s hole, and 
talk loud when conversing with one another so that one can 
be heard. It is pretty cold and very uncomfortable. The 
boys are pretty well all in again but there is a great deal of 
“snow” floating around that we will be going home before 
long and that news keeps the boys going. 

October 9, 1918:—When I got up this morning I never felt 
any more miserable, it was cold and awfully damp and foggy; 


( 191 ) 


192 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


in fact one could not see over twenty feet ahead and one could 
also see the waves of mist float by. The night was a miser¬ 
able one as it was very cold and we did not have enough covers 
to keep us warm in our wet clothes, firing was heavy dur¬ 
ing the night and so we did not get very much sleep. When 
I put my shoes on this morning the water just simply oozed 
out of them so you can imagine the comfort in which I started 
the day. I watered and fed my horse and then went to break¬ 
fast, after which I relaid the pieces as they had sunk in the 
soft ground very much during the night. I went to noon 
mess and then went to my tent where I lay down for awhile. 
About 4:00 P.M. we had just a little excitement; five allied 
planes brought down one German plane and at the same time 
there were 10 allied planes flying very low over our position 
trying to lend assistance in bringing down the Boche. Shell¬ 
ing from our side today has been very heavy, much heavier 
than the shelling from the German side. After the fog lifted 
this morning the day was very pleasant, sunshiny and bright. 
Directly after mess [Lawrence E.] Kunkler and I made our 
bed; I think we will sleep warmer tonight as Kunkler stole 
three more blankets somewhere, after we had the bed made 
we toasted some bread over some canned heat put some jam 
on it, ate a little and went to bed. 

October 10, 1918:—This morning when we got up it was 
very foggy again, the boys had built a fire and we all sat 
around it trying to keep warm. After I had eaten my break¬ 
fast about 9:30, Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff told me that I was to 
go forward with them to lay off the new gun position, so I 
got all of my junk together saddled my horse and went along 
with them. The position is about two kilometers to the left 
of Montfaucon; Lieut. Knaff and I immediately ran a traverse 
and located accurately the position. During the morning the 
extra gun squads came out to dig pits for the guns and they 
brought food along with them, so after I had finished my work 
I went to them and got something to eat. About 2:00 the 
pieces came out and Perry [Lesh] and ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. 
Clift] immediately laid them; I checked ammunition as they 
unloaded it from the trucks. All night long there was a great 
deal of shelling from our side but very little from the Ger¬ 
man side, several shells lit quite close to our tent but none 
of them did any material damage. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


193 


October 11, 1918:—This morning when I got up it was 
foggy, miserable and cold, the battery was firing and the 
extra gun squads had built a fire around which many of the 
boys could be seen thru the fog huddled as close to the flame 
as possible to keep warm. I fed and watered my horse and 
then went to the fire where I stood around until about 10:00 
when Perry and ‘Pete’ heated some water and then we three 
took a good wash and shave. Perry had more nerve than 
either ‘Pete’ or I as he took off nearly all of his clothes and 
practically took a bath; as I had nothing to do I took a walk 
down toward B Battery, while there Capt. [Humphrey A.] 
Barbour told me that I ought to be in an officer’s training 
camp and that he would do what he could to get me there. 
Our artillery, or rather the American artillery is only help¬ 
ing out here and our ‘doughboys’ are not in the lines at all. 
When I got back to our battery it was noon mess time and 
to my big surprise we had steak and mashed potatoes for 
the meal. During the afternoon all that we did was lie 
around the fire and read some old Indianapolis Stars that had 
come in. About 4:00 we fried a little bread and were just 
having a little feast when Sgt. [Jonas F.] Prather came out 
with a load of Y.M.C.A. stuff, and of course we all bought 
our allowance. We did not have a very good evening mess 
so we are going to make our beds and try to be content by 
trying to sleep. The weather is cloudy and cool during the 
day and at night it is clear and cold, none of we men have 
overcoats or heavy underwear yet. Artillery fire from our 
side still continues but there is not quite so much from the 
German side any more. 

October 12, 1918: — At 7:00 P.M. yesterday evening we had 
just crawled in bed when the whistle blew and we were told 
to get ready to move. We all got up, packed our junk and I 
saddled my horse and awaited orders. Perry [Lesh] was sent 
to a certain cross road from where he would show the piece 
teams which way to pull in, while I was stationed where I 
could direct the wagons for materiel and get them in and 
out without any confusion. It was very cold and damp, and 
the time passed very slowly. The piece teams came in about 
9:30 and got out in due time but the wagons were blocked 
by traffic so my wait was a long one; in fact until 2:45 a.m. 
and when they did come I was about frozen. The pieces 


13—22902 


194 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


went on in to the echelon. At 2:45 Perry and I then went 
down to a fire that the boys had built, and went to sleep. We 
had nothing to cover with as our rolls were ready for leav¬ 
ing so we pulled our feet up into the rain-coats we had on 
and even slept thru a light shower until the wagons came up 
at daylight. The wagons were immediately loaded and then 
Lieut. (Iggy) Steveson started to lead the way in to the 
echelon but he got lost and took us about two miles out of our 
way, we got to the echelon in time for breakfast. While 
we were grooming we got another order to move, so we all 
got ready. As soon as the battery was ready to move we 
started out, we went back away from the front a few kilo¬ 
meters and then cut in over to the left. We traveled until 
5:30 p.m. and finally pulled into a little valley near Cheppy 
where we unsaddled, watered and fed the horses. The coun¬ 
try around us is simply in one big uproar; there are a very 
great many American six-inch rifles and all of them are firing; 
then too there are several German six-inch guns right close 
to us and they have been turned around and are now being 
fired toward the Germans; the country is a little cleaner than 
that country which we just left. At 7:30 the pieces and all 
the equipment that goes with the guns were gotten ready and 
finally we pulled out for the position. It took us, with the 
pieces, until 11:30 to get to the position because the roads 
were so congested, and then too it started to rain and it was 
very cold. The roads were hilly and dark and one also had 
to be careful of not falling with the horse. We finally pulled 

into position just to the right of Exermont, and a h- of 

a position it is too I must say. It is in a valley that is sim¬ 
ply full of shell holes and mud and many old German canton¬ 
ments that are about all shot to pieces. There is a little creek 
that runs thru the valley and its course is all deflected on ac¬ 
count of the shells that have burst in its course. Mud is a 
foot thick and the hill in front of us is so steep that we can 
not see over a square in front of us. Exermont is a mass of 
ruins and is an awful place to get into or out of. Our kitchen 
is in an old torn up cantonment and there will have to be a 
general house cleaning before they will be able to put any of 
the kitchen into working order. [Lawrence] Kunkler and I 
unrolled our rolls, made our bed on the floor of the new kitchen 
and at 3:00 we crawled in and went to sleep. 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


195 


October 13, 1918: — At 8:00 a.m. we got up had our break¬ 
fasts and fed our horses. Kunkler and I then went over to 
one of these old cantonments where we got some good boards 
which we built into a fine floor and then, over that floor we 
pitched our pup-tent. The weather is very miserable, damp 
and cloudy and at times it rains so we are trying to keep off 
of the damp or rather wet ground as much as possible. There 
is quite a bit of firing going on and all of the men are busy 
either making their homes or carrying ammunition. During 
the afternoon we had to relay the pieces as the men built large 
wooden platforms for the guns so that they would not sink 
in the mud. We also had a notice placed on our bulletin 
board that the Germans had accepted our peace terms but 
that the fighting would continue until a commission had met 
to arrange matters more systematically. The firing is noth¬ 
ing to speak of although there is some; a few German shells 
come over once in a while, just enough to make it annoying. 
This evening after mess we received a little mail. I suppose 
we will fire tonight as I was talking to an Alabama infantry 
replacement man who by the way was a south side Indian¬ 
apolis fellow and he said that they were going over the top in 
the morning at 8:00. 

October 14, 1918:—The battery has been firing continuously 
since 12:00 last night and we are only four kilometers from 
the front lines. The weather is still cool, cloudy and rainy 
and not very pleasant; I saw Hilton U. Brown 1 this morning, 
he is a second Lieut, in the 6th. Field Artillery. The rest 
of the day we had nothing at all to do so we stayed around 
in our tents reading, and about 4:00 P.M. I went down and 
groomed and fed my horse. By evening mess time it was 
dark, so we all crawled into our tents early, the weather 
has been about the same all day and the battery has been 
firing all day, there have been a few planes up at that. 
[Lawrence E.] Kunkler, Perry [Lesh] and I had an extra lit¬ 
tle feed today, we stole some potatoes, bacon and bread from 
a nearby kitchen and fried it, and it certainly went good. 
After evening mess I sat around and read for awhile and 
then Perry and ‘Pete’ [Clarence E.] got hungry so I opened 
one of the cans of salmon I had stolen, but we had no bread 

1 Hilton U. Brown, Indianapolis, was killed in action November 8, 1918, near 
Nouart, France. 


196 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


so we all went out and stole some bread and then ate a few 
sandwiches before retiring. 

October 15, 1918:—In speaking of the village of Mont- 
faucon that we were close to the other day, I forgot to men¬ 
tion its historic interest. They say that from the church 
tower of the town which is the hightest point for miles around 
there, the Crown Prince watched his great armies defeated 
at the battle of Verdun. Last night was a rather restless 
night as several shells lit very close to our tents in fact, close 
enough to throw dirt all over them but no one was hurt. At 
7:30 this morning we got up and had our breakfasts, watered 
and fed our horses and then waited for something to happen. 
The battery fired part of the night and they say that our 
‘doughboys’ are advancing very slowly. [Howard H.] Max¬ 
well had been out last night stealing food and when he got 
up this morning we started to eat again. We made three 
batches of fudge and had toast, butter, pan-cakes, fried po¬ 
tatoes and sugar. During the morning I relaid the pieces and 
then had nothing more to do until noon mess when I ate a 
heaping kit full of beans. I just saw six German prisoners 
being marched by here going toward the rear. I got a lot of 

h- this morning from Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift because 

I had tied my horse over night to one of the wheels of the 
limbers, and since the horses are not getting a great deal 
of food my horse decided to have a square meal and he ate 
three of the spokes out of the limber wheel and now they are 
afraid that it will not hold up on the next trip. About 3:00 
p.m. Capt. [Clarence E.] Trotter came down and told me to 
get some junk together because we were going forward to 
look things over. I took the aiming circle and we started out, 
we went to the top of a hill that we thought was No. 204 but 
after all of the climbing we did we found that we were on 
the wrong hill and we could not see a thing. Down we went 
again and after much puffing and an hour’s climbing we got 
to the top of hill number 204; from there we could overlook 
the whole valley below, including our ‘doughboys’ and the Ger¬ 
man front lines. We found out that our ‘doughboys’ had 
gained their objective but had to drop back as the right and 
left flanks had failed to gain; we also watched a number of 
gas shells light in the valley below and then we started back 
in to the battery. Our ‘doughboys’ have had about 1500 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


197 


casualties since they have been up here and they are in pretty 
bad shape. 

October 16, 1918:—About 1:00 last night it started to rain 
and it has been raining ever since. I got up about 7:00, 
had my breakfast, fed and watered my horse and then I 
crawled back in bed. During the morning I read four short 
stories out of the Red Book and smoked nearly a package of 
cigarettes. At noon mess we had cabbage, 'corned willie,’ 
bread, sugar and coffee; Lynch, the fellow who drives the 
ration cart brought out many cans of pears from the echelon 
and each fellow was allowed to buy a can. After the noon 
mess we all crawled back in bed. I read four more short 
stories in the American. The battery is lower now on horses 
than it ever has been, we have only 181 left and my single 
mount looks like a real skeleton because of lack of food. We 
did not crawl out of our tents until evening mess time and 
while we were eating Lieut. ‘Hap’ [Frank] Hastings came up, 
he is with the 6th Field Artillery, the fellows were certainly 
glad to see him as it is the first time we have heard anything 
about him since he left us at Barbett Cottage on the Lorraine 
front. 

October 17, 1918:—This morning about 8:00 I got up ate 
my breakfast, watered and fed my horse and noticed that 
Perry’s [Lesh] horse had broken loose and had eaten three 
more spokes out of another limber and they say that Capt. 
[Clarence E.] Trotter is simply wild about it. All morning 
we lay around in our tents reading, at noon we had a very 
scanty meal and after we again went back into our tents. 
During the afternoon Perry and ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. Clift] 
helped Cpl. [Fred W.] Turner string some wire to an advance 
O.P. but the orders were somehow a little ‘balled up’ so the 
wire laying was stopped. I found one fellow in the battery 
who had a pair of clippers, so during the afternoon we took 
turns about trimming one another’s hair and sights we were, 
I’ll say. While I was eating, Capt. [Clarence E.] Trotter 
came to me and told me that I should be all ready to go for¬ 
ward with him at 8:20 in the morning, that means that the 
battery will move forward sometime during tomorrow. There 
is very little firing going on now, the weather is still very mis¬ 
erable, rainy, cold and shoe-top-deep mud and no sunshine. 


198 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


October 18, 1918:—One year ago today we left Camp Mills, 
Long Island, boarded the U.S.S. President Lincoln and left 
Hoboken. This morning I got up at 7:00 tore down my tent 
and packed all of my equipment; I then ate my breakfast and 
got a little food to take along so that I would not be half 
starved when we return. At 8:30 all the mounted men of 
the detail except Perry [Lesh] and ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. Clift] 
started out. We stopped at 1st Bn. and there met the B 
Battery detail and we all went out together. We went thru 
Fleville and on up toward the front. We saw very, very 
many American and German dead lying around thru the coun¬ 
try, and the country is in a horrible state. Mud is no name 
for it and the whole country is terribly devastated. I hope 
and pray that all of our horses fall dead or something hap¬ 
pens to prevent us from taking up our new gun position; 
our first piece will be put 100 feet from 12 German dead and 
more than twenty dead horses. After we had finished our 
work we started back having found out that the order to 
move forward had not come down yet. The sun has been 
shining this morning the first time for so long that it certainly 
makes things look real once again. This life is certainly 

one h- and I surely hope that something very unusual 

happens to break the spell of mud, rain, work, monotony and 
dissatisfaction that we are under. During the rest of the 
afternoon I stayed around in my tent hoping that we would 
not take up the position that we just located. At evening 
mess time the boys lined up for black coffee, bread, a little 
dab of jam and some fried potatoes and that’s all. Two Ger¬ 
man aviators were just marched past our place; they were 
brought down just ahead of our position. Balloons are up in 
the same valley with us now and the chaplain told us that 
the British had entered Lille and that the Belgians had en¬ 
tered Ostende, so the Germans can certainly not last very 
much longer. We always get either a Mail, Herald or a 
Tribune [all Chicago papers] from the day before and the 
boys sure devour the news. The fellows write very few let¬ 
ters now as they have to spend most of their time getting 
the mud off themselves. I am feeling pretty fair but I will 
say that the boys are very disgusted because they do not get 
the rest that they really need. 

October 19, 1918:—This morning I got up at 7:00, ate my 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


199 


breakfast, watered and fed my horse and then came up to 
my tent to wait until [Lawrence E.] Kunkler got through 
with his grooming kit so that I could groom my horse. He 
got thru about 9:00 and I started grooming, while working 
Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff came up to me and told me to get ready 
to go forward with him; [George A.] Aurine had come out 
from the echelon mounted. So at 9:30 Aurine took the scis¬ 
sors tripod and a phone and I took the scissors head and 
along with Lieut. Knaff we started for the O.P. The coun¬ 
try around forward is practically the same as that we saw 
a few days ago, all torn up, full of shell holes, dead lying 
wherever one looks and the whole country dead except for the 
American soldiers. We tied our horses at the base of a very 
steep hill and then took our instruments and climbed to the 
top, from there we could see all over the surrounding coun¬ 
try, our lines and the German lines. We immediately put up 
the scissors, put on the phone and then Lieut. Knaff started 
to adjust the battery on a German O.P. that is located in the 
top of a tree near the edge of the woods in the German lines. 
It took about 40 rounds and the tree was no more; officers 
and details from all three Bns. were up there and all of them 
were adjusting batteries. Yesterday there were four Ger¬ 
man planes brought down between our battery and the O.P., 
so on our way back to the battery we stopped and had a good 
look at one. Going to and from the O.P. we also go thru a 
valley that has gained the name of “Death Valley” because 
the Germans shell it so much and never fail to get at least 
one each time. All thru this valley one can see American 
dead lying about and it seems as if the first aid men who are 
supposed to litter these men off do not do their work properly 
because these dead Americans ought to be taken away imme¬ 
diately after they are killed, it is certainly a gruesome look¬ 
ing place. On our way back I took a short cut and got into 
some sneezing gas. I was afraid to run my horse as he is so 
poor that I thought he would drop dead; I have been sneez¬ 
ing ever since. I also found out from an infantry Major that 
I happened to run into that since most of our infantry was 
made up of casuals from officers down that we had failed to 
gain our objective and that we would probably remain here 
until we did, that means another drive on our part. A little 
mail came in and I got seven letters. We also got the news 
that Ostende and Lille had fallen. 


200 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


October 20, 1918:—Last night just after we had gone to 
bed the Boche put over quite a few gas shells; many of them 
lit very close to our tents and the smell of gas was simply 
awful. Of course we had to wear our gas masks for awhile 
and we did not get to sleep until about 11:00 P.M. When I 
got up at 8:00 this morning it was raining hard and I stayed 
up only long enough to take care of my horse and eat my own 
breakfast and then I crawled back in bed. I made a memory 
sketch today for Major [Sidney S.] Miller of this sector; after 
I had finished it I took it over to 1st. Bn. to him. I brought 
back a bag of first class mail out of which I got two letters. 
I drew a pair of pants this a.m. that I needed very badly, a 
suit of underwear and two pair of summer sox (SUMMER), 
also a few cigarettes. After I had eaten my mess I crawled 
into our tent, put on my clean clothes without a bath, too 
cold to take a bath in the open now, read my two letters and 
then went to bed; we nearly always sleep in all of our clothes 
as it is so cold. Cpls. [Fred W.] Turner, [Latham W.] Con¬ 
nell, [Truman T.] Felt, [Carl H.] Moorman, [Belmont] 
Thomkins and [George A.] Aurine were gassed during the 
day and they have all been sent to the hospital. 

October 21, 1918:—Last night a few more gas shells came 
over but they did no serious damage. I was just putting 
on my shoes at 6:40 when Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff came down 
to me and said that we would leave for the O.P. at 7:15. I 
immediately saddled my horse, fed him, ate my own breakfast 
and then got the scissors ready to go to the O.P. I also got 
three bread, butter and sugar sandwiches for my lunch. It 
was very cloudy and when we got up to the O.P. communica¬ 
tion was broken from shell fire. It was 10:00 when we got 
in touch with the batteries and then both A and B Batteries 
started to adjust on the town of Saint George. About 12:00 
we started the fire for effect and by two o’clock the destruc¬ 
tion of the town was complete. A and B both put in 200 
rounds in the town. For adjusting, instantaneous fuses were 
used and then during the fire for effect one five-hundredth 
and one one-hundredth delay fuses were used so the place was 
completely torn to the ground. After we had finished our 
mission we came in to the battery where I took care of my 
horse and then went after my mess. The mud is certainly 
fierce around here. When a shell lights around us the fel- 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


201 


lows simply cover their faces to keep from getting them full 
of mud, our tents are just speckled with mud. 

October 22, 1918:—Last night just after we had all gone 
to bed, (they always wait until after we have gone to bed) 
Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift blew his whistle for all non-coms, 
and twenty minutes later found all of them assembled in the 
Captain’s dug-out. The Captain then read an order and it 
sure was a ‘peach,’ since our infantry is so shot up and have 
failed to take their objective they have asked each artillery 
out-fit for 68 privates, 4 Corporals, 3 Sergeants, and one sec¬ 
ond Lieutenant to act as infantry during the next attack. 
They asked for volunteers and most of the fellows jumped 
for the chance. I put my name in with the rest of them but 
they would not let me go as both Perry [Lesh] and ‘Pete’ 
[Clarence E. Clift] out of the instrument detail are going. 
Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff will lead with Sgts. [Cecil] York, [Karl 
F.] Moore and [Byron C.] Young, Cpls. [Richard M.] Bos- 
son, [Perry] Lesh, [Wilbur] Berauer and [Howard H.] Max¬ 
well. All of the men were to get rifles, ammunition belts and 
‘doughboy’ packs immediately and be ready at a moment’s no¬ 
tice to go. Right after mess Lieut. Knaff, [Latham W.] 
Connell and I went up to the O.P. On my way up I had a 
nice fall, my horse slipped, just as he was going to jump a 
little ditch and rooted his nose in the ground. My feet were 
so full of mud that I could not get them out of the stirrups, so 
over I went. I lit on the back of my neck but I had the head 
to the scissors on my back so only a little mud was the result. 
Lt. Knaff and Connell sure had a good laugh. From 2:00 
until 4:30 we watched the effect of our fire on two small 
woods; while we were there an infantry Major came up and 
told us a lot of the reports given out by General Pershing 
while inspecting our sector. They say that he relieved sev¬ 
eral of the officers of their high commands. He also said that 
we would stay here until we had reached our objective and held 
it. He also said that if there were only two men left that the 
Brigade Commander should take them over the top. Failure 
to gain an objective would be no explanation. We did not 
get back to the guns then until after dark. 

October 23, 1918:—This morning we got up in time for 
breakfast and while I was eating Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff said 


202 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


that we would go to the O.P. again this morning. We walked 
up as the horses are so poor, and believe me it was certainly 
some walk, mud up to our knees and a big hill climb at the 
end of it, we were sure all in. [Latham W.] Connell went 
along but when we got up there the line was out so the rest 
of the day was spent by Connell trying to find the break in 
the line. At 1:30 the line was gotten thru and then Lieut. 
Knaff calibrated all four pieces which took us until 4:30 P.M. 
The Germans did a great deal of shelling today in front of 
the O.P. and quite a few times we had to duck from flying 
fragments. The day was as clear as could be, consequently 
there was quite a deal of aerial activity and the sky was con¬ 
stantly full of planes and anti-aircraft bursts. I got to see 
one Allied plane fall in the German lines, also German planes 
brought down three of our big observation balloons. The 
general artillery fire has been pretty heavy today and there 
have been quite a few more casualties today. 

October 24, 1918:—After I had finished eating this a.m. 
I started to groom my horse but Lieut. Knaff came down 
and told me to have map case and aiming circle and be ready 
to leave at 8:45. At 9:00 A and B Batteries met at Bn. 
Hdqrs. and we all started out. We again went thru Fleville 
and from there to Sommerance where we turned to the right. 
At the right edge of the town we dismounted and tied our 
horses in an old dilapidated barn because the Germans were 
putting shrapnel over the town. From there we walked about 
one kilometer out of Sommerance where we located the gun 
position. We ran the necessary traverse in locating the posi¬ 
tion, put stakes at each gun place and posted it against other 
batteries. It was then about 11:00 and we started back. The 
air has been very cool today, clear, and the Germans have 
certainly had control of the air; last night was also clear 
and the Germans did a great deal of bombing close to our 
position but none of them were close enough to do us any 
damage. During the afternoon I lay in my tent sleeping until 
4:00 when Sgt. [Jonas F.] Prather came out with an issue 
of wrapped puttees for the fellows. I then fed and watered 
my horse and went up to evening mess where we had gravy, 
hamburger, two slices of bread, coffee and a little sweet pud¬ 
ding. By the time evening mess was over it was dark so 
quite a few of we fellows sat down around a fire and talked 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


203 


over old times. We talked mostly of hunting trips so you 
know I had plenty to say. Kunkler and I have ‘promoted’ 
quite a few more blankets and we now sleep under five, and 
on five so you know that we sleep pretty warm. During the 
evening I wrote a letter home concerning my allotment. 

This page marks the end of my second book of diary and 
I certainly hope that I will not have to write another whole 
book. 

October 25, 1918:—Last night at 8:00 P.M. the Boche put 
over 40 rounds and all of them lit right in and around our 
battery, but as luck would have it not a one was hurt; this 
morning even tho the fragments from 40 more rounds flew 
all around us, the boys came out of it without a scratch. At 
9:00 A.M. Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff and I started out to locate 
another position, as the 75s had taken the position that we 
located yesterday. This work took us until 11:00 and we 
then took a short cut across country to the battery; they are 
certainly putting enough artillery in here, wherever they can 
put it, both French and American, in view of another push 
I think. We got to the battery just at noon mess time and 
I fed and watered my horse before I ate my own lunch. The 
weather is cloudy, cool but pleasant. During the afternoon 
I laid around my tent and around a fire that the fellows have 
made near here. At 5:30 we had mess of rice, silage, bread 
and coffee. [Lawrence E.] Kunkler and I then made our 
bed and crawled in; I wrote four letters before I went to 
sleep. The ‘dope’ is that we move tomorrow evening, and they 
are hauling ammunition to our new gun position tonight. It 
is now 6:80. 

October 26, 1918:—This morning while I was eating, Lieut. 
Knaff came to me and told me that the position that we had 
located was not far enough in advance, so about 8:15 we 
started out and in a very short time we were again in Som- 
merance. Lieut. Knaff and I then located the position by 
traverse and it is at the very right edge of the village of Som- 
merance and only about 100 feet in the back of it. After we 
had finished all of our work we started back. We got to the 
battery just in time for noon mess and after I had eaten I 
packed all of my equipment and went to the new position to 
wait there until the battery arrived. By the time I had ar¬ 
rived at the position it was clear and there was a great deal 


204 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


of aerial activity. I dismounted, took my saddle bags and 
blanket roll off my horse and sat down to wait for the battery. 
About 2:00 the Germans started to shell Sommerance and our 
position got all of the ‘overs’. They fired both H.E. and 
shrapnel; each H.E. shell that comes over contains a little 
mustard gas so I inhaled weak gas all the rest of the day. 
B Battery’s position is just to the right of our position and 
they pulled in with their wagons and camouflaged before dark, 
our battery followed with the same. All the time our wagons 
were coming in the Germans were shelling and many of our 
men had narrow escapes. Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff and some of 
the men while coming thru the open street of Sommerance 
had a close call as a German shell came over, went thru a 
stone wall toward the front from them and then tore up the 
street in front of them, but it happened to be a dud. While 
bringing in one of the ammunition wagons one of the drivers 
who was riding a lead team had his horse shot from under 
him and had one of his own toes shot off by a fragment from 
a German 77. Lieut. Knaff then gave me two escort wagons 
and told me to go back to the edge of Sommerance where there 
was an ammunition dump and get some powder and fuses, so 
I took the two wagons and back we went. While we were 
loading our wagons German shells were lighting just across 
the road from us and we surely worked fast, for had one of 
those shells lit in the ammunition dump while we were there, 
we would have still been going. After I got back with the 
two wagons [Lawrence E.] Kunkler and I dug a hole deep 
enough for protection for the night and then we spread our 
blankets at the bottom of it and crawled in to wait until the 
pieces came up. Gas was very thick, as it rolled down the 
hill in the rear of us and just laid in the valley we are in, it 
was not strong enough to make one wear a gas mask but 
nevertheless everybody was sneezing and crying most of the 
time. The pieces were not allowed to clear Fleville until 9:30 
and it was 11:30 before they pulled into Sommerance. While 
the gun squads were putting the guns in place I tried to help 
Perry [Lesh], [Leslie H.] Coleman and some more of our 
detail boys with our instrument wagon which had gotten 
stuck in a shell hole on account of a balky horse they had 
pulling it. Shells were coming over thick and fast, both H.E. 
and gas, so all of the work was very slow. We took the balky 
horse off the cart and put Tug’ [Rogers H.] George’s single 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


205 


mount to it but we could have no luck, so we started to change 
back to the original horse, but we had to work between the 
burst of shells. Coleman found a hole about thirty feet away 
from where we were working and every time a shell would 
come he would run to this hole before it burst. ‘Pug’ and 
Perry both got a good shot of gas and then Coleman keeled 
with too much of it just after one had burst and thrown dirt 
all over him. We finally got the horse hitched to the cart 
though, and were just ready to give him a lift on one grand 
pull when we heard one coming over. I don’t know why, but 
everyone ran for Coleman’s hole and I got in first with about 
four of the other fellows on top of me. Coleman was left out 
all together. No one was hurt so we all went back to the 
cart where with one big push we got the cart out and were 
on our way. Of course everything was in a mix up and it 
was 12:30 before the pieces were in place and laid ready to 
fire, and then when I looked the place over I found out that 
the third piece was not even there but was in a ditch not far 
away. 

October 27, 1918:—All of the men went to bed last night 
after the kitchen had put out 'corned willie,’ bread, coffee and 
sugar. Ellis J. Baker and I did not go directly to bed but we 
went down into the village on the main street where there 
was an infantry kitchen, and there I stole four loaves of 
bread; I do not know how many Baker got as we did not 
come back together as a guard tried to stop us and we ran. 
About 4:00 a.m the Germans started to shell Sommerance and 
it certainly was terrific as we had to stay in our holes and 
wear our gas masks off and on until way after daylight. It 
is certainly a miracle that no one was touched during the 
night, and it was more than pleasant when we awakened this 
morning and found the sun shining very brightly. After 
[Lawrence E.] Kunkler and I had eaten our breakfasts and 
taken care of our horses we immediately started digging our 
holes deeper and I think just about all the fellows are doing 
the same thing. From the O.P. where we were this a.m. 
we adjusted the third piece and did some work with the other 
pieces and then the officers went in. Our guns are only five 
hundred meters, or one half of a kilometer from the German 
front lines and the only thing that keeps us from seeing the 
lines is just one fair sized hill directly in front of us. Our 


206 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


six inch guns are even in front of the 75s and machine guns. 
During the afternoon the sections organized their pieces, 
camouflaged and dug their holes to sleep in. Everybody is 
digging a hole and you don’t see a fellow any more who says 
he can live without a hole. Kunkler and I have one that is 
two and one half feet deep. Believe me I have seen more 
work done with picks and shovels today than I ever have be¬ 
fore in my life. Dead Germans can be found lying all around 
thru the country and this afternoon when Cpl. [Werrill G.] 
Clapp was digging his hole he dug into a dead German, he 
only hit the foot of the body so he covered it up, drove a few 
boards around it and continued to make his home. The 
weather is very fine, clear and pleasant and this afternoon 
while at the O.P. we saw a German plane go crashing to the 
ground, there has been a great deal of aerial activity today. 
We also watched the French and American planes drop propa¬ 
ganda leaflets around over the German lines. When the big 
party starts we will start firing with the lowest charge pos¬ 
sible as we are so very close to the front lines, that will be 
charge Number 5. After I had finished laying the pieces I 
went over to Sgt. [Jonas F.] Prather’s wagon which had come 
out from the echelon with a load of things for the boys, and 
there I bought some Y.M.C.A. stuff and drew an overcoat; and 
then started to work again on our home. My first job was to 
fix it so that we could light a candle in it without letting the 
light shine out; then I had to fix it so that the dirt would not 
fall into our blankets. 

October 28, 1918:—This morning we all got up happy as 
there had been no one killed during the night altho B Battery 
and our battery had fired continually from 1:30 to 4:30 this 
morning and there was a great deal of retaliation fire from 
the German side. The gas was very strong during the night 
and [Lawrence E.] Kunkler and I just put our heads beneath 
the blankets and slept that way all night without getting the 
effects of the gas; one of B Battery’s powder lots was blown 
up during the night and eight of their men were injured and 
taken to the hospital. Two of our horses had been killed dur¬ 
ing the night and one of our men [James W.] Proctor, was 
sent to the hospital with gas, as he reported it. 
He got out of his bed and started to yell for all fel¬ 
lows who were gassed to follow him and he would take them 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


207 


to the first aid station and while walking around he stepped 
into the hole where the medics attached to our battery were 
sleeping and they threw him out. Boyd Gillespie was the only 
one who followed him up, but he really was gassed. It was 
certainly an exciting night. After I had finished my break¬ 
fast, watered and fed my horse I again started to work on 
our hole,—making it deeper. I completed our hole about 
10:30 and now I think we are pretty safe. The weather is 
as pretty as one could wish for, just cool enough to be snappy 
and many aeroplanes are up, one German plane just came over 
our position and dropped a big cloud of silvery looking pieces 
of paper floating toward the O.P. and as they float the Ger¬ 
mans are firing on them and I’ll bet the boys at the O.P. are 
having a regular thrill. It is now 5:45, dark and I am now 
going to bed, read a Herald and then wait for the excitement 
to start. 

October 29, 1918:—Well the night was rather quiet; one 
shell lit about ten feet from our kitchen but it did no damage, 
our 75s put over an awful barrage but we only had one gas 
alarm, pretty good I’ll say. The day is bright and the sun is 
warm and already the planes are flying about. The Germans 
seem to have control of the air around here. Perry [Lesh] 
has gone up to the O.P. and tomorrow I will go up and start 
on a sketch. During the morning we received a little mail and 
I got two letters from home. At noon today we had a very 
good mess, roast beef, potatoes, coffee, sugar and bread. After 
dinner I sat down and made a sketching board and then wrote 
ten letters. Cpl. [Howard H.] Maxwell and [Lawrence E.] 
Kunkler sat in the hole reading while I wrote my letters. The 
order also came down today stating that we could now wear 
our second service chevron. While I was sitting in my hole 
writing Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift came along and stopped in 
our home and after looking around a little informed me that 
I was now a Sergeant, and that ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. Clift] was 
now a Corporal; so after I had addressed my letters I sewed 
on some chevrons. While I was sewing on chevrons the Ger¬ 
mans started to shell and they certainly did come close, every¬ 
body took to their holes and there was quite a bit of anxiety 
for awhile but fortunately no one was hurt. We have had 
our gas masks on and off since 3:00 this afternoon and at 
evening mess time only a section at a time could go after mess 


208 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


because they were afraid of shells. Sgt. [Jonas F.] Prather 
came out with a load of Y.M.C.A. stuff and I got a package 
of cigarettes out of it. The day has been unusually clear, 
thus a great deal of aerial activity. Many German aero¬ 
planes have been over and our machine guns have been chat¬ 
tering away all day long, and the sky has been simply full 
of anti-aircraft bursts. It is now 5:15, dark, and we have 
crawled into our holes and gotten ready for bed. Shells are 
lighting not over one hundred feet behind us; I read until 
about 10:00 and then tried to go to sleep but they lit so very 
close during the night I did not have much luck. 

October 30, 1918:—This morning when we got.up the sun 
was shining very bright, we took care of our horses, ate our 
breakfasts and then prepared for the day. Perry [Lesh] 
went back to stay at regimental headquarters and maintain 
a rear O.P., ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. Clift] stayed at the guns and 
[Lawrence E.] Kunkler and I went over to Bn. Hdqrs., from 
where we carried a scissors up to the O.P. I also took my 
sketching board along and two steak sandwiches for dinner, 
Kunkler came on back to the battery. I worked the rest of 
the afternoon on the tracing of my sketch and did not finish 
it until evening mess time. After mess I took my horse to 
an old barn in Sommerance across the street from Bn. Hdqrs. 
so that he would be at least a little safer from flying frag¬ 
ments. While in Sommerance Kunkler and I ran into a com¬ 
missary truck from which we bought four boxes of cakes. 
When we got back to the battery we made a little stove which 
we put in our hole and heated the place up in great style. 
The ‘snow’ is now that we are not going to put on this big 
offensive here as the Germans are supposed to be pulling out. 
The day has been clear with much aerial activity, artillery 
firing is still heavy around here but for us the day has been 
rather quiet. I am now in my hole and am going to try to 
read a little, shells have just started to light about 200 feet 
behind us and I surely hope that they will stay there. The 
early part of the night was quiet except for one little thrill we 
had, a four-inch shell came over from the Germans, ricocheted 
from the top of the hill in front of us and lit only ten feet 
in back of our hole and did not explode. It certainly shook 
the ground and made us think me were gone, but luck was 
with us. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


209 


October 31, 1918:—This morning I got up an hour before 
the rest of the boys, took a good wash and shave, ate my 
breakfast and then sat down and put on a pair of wrapped 
puttees that Sgt. [Jonas F.] Prather had sent out to me. 
The Marines are now up here and according to all the ‘dope’ 
the big party starts tonight. The day has been very clear and 
the planes have been flying very high today, shells have been 
lighting all around us but none have come close until just now 
they are starting to get pretty near. It is now 5:30 and 
Kunkler and I have just crawled between the blankets to read 
and smoke for awhile. It has also started to rain and I 
suppose we are due for a good wet spell. I certainly hope 
that the party starts tonight. 

November 1, 1918:—Well I sat up and read until 12:30 and 
things were pretty quiet with no shelling close and things 
were really pleasant when I turned over and went to sleep. I 
slept very peacefully until 3:00 a.m. and then we were awak¬ 
ened and told to put on all of our clothes. That we did and 
then I got under the covers and went to sleep again, but not 
for very long. At 3:30 one of the fiercest barrages that I 
have ever heard in my life started off. The machine guns in 
the rear of us started to chatter and above all of the big guns 
they could be heard spitting their indirect fire over the Ger¬ 
man lines. There was practically no retaliation fire from the 
Germans. Our tent is only twenty feet directly in front of 
the third piece and every time it shoots we raise about two 
inches from the jar of it all. The night had turned into day 
from the light of the guns firing, and talking to one another 
was beyond the question. I got up and gave the scene the 
once over and then I crawled under my blankets and went to 
sleep. Probably it seems impossible to one not knowing the 
conditions to believe that one could sleep during such a time 
but in a few minutes I was asleep, and there I stayed until 
6:30 this morning. After I had taken my shave this A.M. 
I took a walk over into the village of Sommerance where there 
were very many German prisoners being marched thru. They 
came in in columns of five to two hundred and of course all 
of the fellows were over getting trinkets of some sort from 
them. I decided that I ought to have a few trinkets of some 
sort so I started out to meet one of the columns of prisoners. 
Finally a few of them came along and I stopped them, I asked 


14—22902 


210 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


one fellow whether he had a watch and he said yes; so I made 
him give it to me and then I turned to one of the others who 
gave me another watch, and the third gave me a knife, so I 
figured that I had enough. I did not like the idea of taking 
their things from them but some one else would have, so I 
suppose it was all right. There were many wounded being 
brought in, both German and American; the German prison¬ 
ers who were not injured always carried the wounded men in, 
whether German or American. Three German medics were 
captured and they were put to work taking care of wounded 
in the first aid station, and I want to say they were certainly 
good workers and did the work right. I also saw one Ger¬ 
man prisoner that I thought was shell shocked or had lost his 
mind but when I spoke to him I found out that he had been 
on a grand old party the night before and he was still drunk. 
He was sure having a regular time shaking hands with all 
of we American fellows. All of these prisoners ask but one 
question when they came in and that was “Do we go to Amer¬ 
ica”, they sure all wanted to go. I also ran into one German 
officer while I was helping them unload an ambulance who 
had half of his foot shot off. I asked him in German whether 
or not he was comfortable when I had him fixed and to my 
surprise he answered me in the most perfect English. He 
was a first Lieut, and seemed to be a very fine fellow. The 
nerve that the boys display when they come in wounded is 
certainly remarkable. They don’t even whimper, and some of 
them even walk in when they are so shot up that they can 
hardly ‘tottle’ along. I held one American ‘Doughboy’s’ hand 
as he died. He tried to say something to me but he was too 
far gone so I covered him with a blanket and left him to the 
Chaplain. Then Perry [Lesh] and I unloaded a whole ambu¬ 
lance which will hold six men, five of them we got out alright 
but the sixth one we could not get out so easily and Perry 
climbed into the ambulance to help get the head end loose. 
It seemed as if his arm was sticking some place and I asked 
him whether or not he could move his arm a little but he did 
not answer. Finally we got him out and when I looked at 
him I knew the reason for his silence; he was dying and gasp¬ 
ing and could not talk, he had already lost consciousness; so 
we covered him with a blanket and stood him aside with the 
dead. It was sure a mess of blood at the first aid station and 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


211 


it finally “got to” Perry and I, so we stopped and went to 
tend to our horses. 

After we had taken care of our horses we went over to 
our tent where we toasted a few big pieces of bread, buttered 
them and then sat down in my tent to eat them. While I 
was sitting there shells started to light right in the battery 
position so we lay down to keep out of the way. Suddenly 
I heard some yelling and saw the fellows running toward 
the officer’s hole and when I looked out they had both Capt. 
Trotter and Amos Turner leading them into a tent both of 
them wounded but I hear that it is not serious. We started 
this barrage with a charge No. 5, and now we are using a 
charge No. 1 so our infantry must be advancing very fast. It 
is now 9:30 A.M. and there has been but little retaliation fire 
and the dope is that the Germans are on the run. They finally 
got so many German and American prisoners around the first 
aid station that they had to get them out of the way because 
too many were being hit right as they stood waiting to be 
taken care of; they marched them right side of our battery, 
so while they were there I talked to many of them and they 
were all anxious to go to America and were overly glad that 
they were thru with the whole thing. Many of them were not 
a day over twenty years of age, small but husky lads. The 
battery fired all morning and about 12:00 Capt. [Clarence E.] 
Trotter was taken to the hospital. I also went over to one 
of these German prisoners and gave him a package of cigar¬ 
ettes for a little knife that he had, and he was only too glad to 
give it to me for the cigarettes as he said he had had none 
for the past eight months. The Germans certainly praise 
the Americans and say that they have never seen such won¬ 
derful artillery work. As I was talking to one he looked at 
my name that I had printed on the bag for my gas mask and 
he asked me whether or not I was German. I told him that 
I was, and then he told me that he lived side of an old shoe¬ 
maker by the name of Straub, in Strassburg. Before I could 
say much more to him he was rushed on and I lost him in the 
crowd, everything was in one big, mad whirl. 

We are now firing at a range that requires a number 00 
charge the heaviest charge we have. The ‘dope’ is two ways; 
one that we will go to our left and support the Eightieth di¬ 
vision, and another that we will be relieved. We have now 


212 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


stopped firing and are just simply waiting to see what will 
come next; about 4:00 P.M. Perry [Lesh] and I took another 
walk over to the first aid station; my horse is very near there 
so I took a feed along for him. While we were waiting for 
the horse to finish eating we helped unload wounded from 
the front. We stayed with one fellow until he died and then 
we went up in a small vacant lot where the Chaplain was 
holding a service over a dead Marine. We then got the nose 
bag off my horse and went over to the battery for mess. 
While I was over near the first aid station I noticed a nice 
thirty pound sack of sugar standing in the door way to their 
kitchen. The sack was a small burlap sack, lined with a little 
white sack and sure looked inviting, so when I got to the bat¬ 
tery I told ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. Clift] about it and he went out 
to steal it. It was not long before ‘Pete' came back carrying 
the sack, he had carried it all the way from the battalion 
kitchen and was just about all in. We were sure glad that 
we had it and immediately opened it to use some; to our sur¬ 
prise and disgust when we looked at it we realized that it 
was salt, old ‘Pete’ sure got the laugh. We donated the salt 
to our kitchen. It is now 5:45, dark and the artillery fire has 
died out almost entirely, we can only hear the occasional re¬ 
port of a gun. German prisoners now coming thru are minus 
souvenirs as they are searched by other outfits farther in 
advance of us. They say that during their service in the 
war they never did experience such a barrage; they are glad 
they are captured, happy, young and worn out. The weather 
has been rather cool and it has tried to snow during the day 
but has had no luck, our battery has fared pretty well so 
far. As I write the artillery fire seems to increase a little but 
I suppose it is only a spurt. As a whole the day has been 
rather exciting and I have smoked so many cigarettes that 
my tongue burns like fire. I have just taken the cotton out 
of my ears. Cotton is put in our ears so that the drums are 
not broken by the concussion from the guns. 

November 2, 1918:—I could not go to sleep immediately 
so I sat up until 11:30 and read until I got sleepy. One 
would at least think that one would have a few unpleasant 
dreams after a day such as the one yesterday, but after I got 
to sleep, I slept thru until 8:00 this morning without a 
whimper. After breakfast Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff told ‘Pete* 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


213 


and I to pack our junk, that we were going forward to locate 
a new gun position. A little later Major [Sidney S.] Miller 
and the details from A and B batteries started forward, we 
went as far as St. Juvin where we met a messenger who told 
us to go back as the batteries would not move up before night. 
It has now started to rain and is getting very muddy and wet. 
By evening mess time it was dark and [Lawrence E.] Kunkler 
and I ate our mess, took care of our horses and then went 
to bed. I wrote some letters while I was under the covers, 
and then read a little; while I was reading one of the men 
came up and told me that Lieut. Knaff, ‘Pete’, [Latham W.] 
Connell and I would start out at seven in the morning and 
locate a new position. I then found the guard, had him notify 
the three men, and went to sleep. 

November 3, 1918:—At 5:00 ‘Pete’, Connell and I got up, 
packed all of our junk and got ready to leave, at 8:00 we were 
told that the party was called off and so we unsaddled. At 
9:30 A.M. the echelon pulled along side of the battery and 
everything was gotten in readiness to move. When Perry 
[Lesh] and I went to load our instrument cart we noticed 
that someone had gotten into the cart and stolen a box that 
contained most of our valuable stuff. My pistol, Perry’s field 
glasses, many of our compasses and drawing instruments were 
all gone. I hope the war ends before we have to tell Lieut. 
Knaff about it. Artillery fire has ceased practically altogether 
now; it has been raining all night and is very muddy. The 
firing battery and the echelon ate dinner together, we did 
nothing all morning but lie around awaiting the order to move. 
Just after noon mess the order came down to pull out; [Leslie 
H.] Coleman, ‘Pete’ and I along with three Lieutenants, one 
from B Battery, one from Bn. and one from our battery went 
ahead. We went thru St. Juvin, Verpel and into Champin- 
aulle. There we found after a long hunt a place for the bat¬ 
teries to pull in; it started to rain again about 9:00 P.M. and 
of course we were wet to the skin. After we had started a 
guard over the place for the batteries we went into an old 
barn where there was an infantry kitchen, and as luck would 
have it, we were able to ‘bum’ a cup full of strong black coffee. 
We also built a fire and tried to get our wet clothes half way 
dry. I stood one ‘hitch’ at guard and just after I had gotten 
out in the rain I found an old German strawtick, an old Ger- 


214 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


man horse cover, and in them I wrapped myself and went to 
sleep until ‘Pete’ Clift came out to relieve me. After ‘Pete’ 
came in off of his ‘hitch’ we decided that we were hungry and 
we started out to find a ration dump or someone’s kitchen. 
Lieut. Wyle of Bn. went along with us and we finally found 
the infantry ration dump in an old barn; the place was guard¬ 
ed but all the men were lying around sleeping so we took a 
chance. We could not light a match but while the Lieutenant 
talked to the one fellow who was awake ‘Pete’ and I stole a box 
of jam. I also had one big can of syrup in my hands but I 
had to drop it when the guard came my way. We took the 
box of jam over behind the fountain which was in the middle 
of the street and there we waited until the Lieut, came before 
we started back to the old barn where the rest of the fellows 
were waiting for us. It was as dark as pitch and was rain¬ 
ing, so no one could see us and we could not stop even to read 
the label on the box. When we finally got back to our old 
barn we opened the box with the intentions of having a regu¬ 
lar feed and to our disgust it was a box of soap. [Leslie H.] 
Coleman then went back to meet the batteries and bring them 
on up to this place. At 4:00 a.m. he came back and told us to 
saddle our horses, that the order had been changed and that 
we were going to go on farther. The battery then was only 
at the edge of this little village so we got ready in a hurry. 

November 4, 1918:—While we were saddling and getting 
our junk together the batteries came along and of course we 
had to hurry on ahead. We went thru Buzancy which had 
been evacuated by the Germans only forty-eight hours before. 
The town was once a very pretty place and seemed to be quite 
a prosperous place but now it was a mass of ruins; buildings 
were burning and walls were caving in and just as the day 
was breaking it certainly made a picture to see all of these 
American pieces of artillery filing thru the town. I sat on 
my horse looking from side to side and in many of these old 
ruins I could see dead lying about, and then again I would see 
two or three American soldiers trying to get warm by the 
heat of some smoldering building. We went on thru this 
place about three kilometers to Bar-les-Buzancy and there we 
pulled off of the road, after everything was settled I rode back 
to lead the batteries into place. It was daylight when we were 
all pulled in and then the fourth piece was not there as it 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


215 


had gotten into a ditch as we started out on our hike. When 
everything was well fixed we watered and fed our horses and 
gave them a good grooming. The night had certainly been a 
miserable one and all of the fellows are about done for, in fact 
I know of six fellows who have dropped out of the column 
all together and I suppose there are twenty gone altogether. 
B Battery is on one side of the street and we are on the other. 
There are also a great many other outfits in this little village. 
I can hear but very little firing and I would say that we have 
advanced about 25 kilometers; it has stopped raining. Some 
of the fellows had stolen some molasses during the night and 
they divided with us, so we also had a little molasses and hard 
tack with the rest of the meal. The Eighty-second and the 
Seventy-seventh Divisions are now moving thru here going 
toward the front, lapping us, so I suppose that means we will 
be relieved. The ‘dope’ that has come back to us so far is 
that the Germans are entraining and moving back in motor 
trucks, also that our infantry has gone into Sedan in motor 
trucks and have met no opposition yet. We can just hear 
the report of guns and they say that the ‘doughboys’ are still 
going. Evening mess was not until after the horses had 
been watered and fed and by then we had no orders to move, 
so Coleman and I made our beds together and then sat down 
around a grate fire with some of the boys in an old ruined 
building. After we had fried a little hard tack Coleman and 
I went to bed. About an hour after we had gotten to bed 
the German bombing planes started to come over and they 
certainly opened their egg baskets a plenty, ’cause bombs lit 
everyplace but on top of us. The buildings shook and from 
the sound of things I suppose many have been wounded. 

November 5, 1918:—This morning ‘Pete’ Clift got up be¬ 
fore the rest of the battery and went out and stole five loaves 
of bread, so after we had taken care of our horses we sat 
down at the grate fire and fried bread for our breakfasts. At 
8:00 however breakfast for the battery was served and the 
report came in that they had hamburger and potatoes along 
with bread and coffee so we all piled out to the battery mess, 
and ate again. After breakfast I sat down and read a paper 
of Nov. 3d. and I would say that the war is about over. While 
we were grazing the horses this morning about fifteen Ger¬ 
man planes came over us very low, they downed an American 


216 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


plane and then turned and went back, without even being 
shot at or pursued by a French or American plane. For noon 
mess we had tomatoes, gravy, boiled beef, bread and coffee. 
The ‘dope’ is that we move either this afternoon sometime, 
or tonight. This morning I got into the fourgon and got 
my new big high shoes out, the ones I bought in Neufchateau. 
All afternoon we sat around the grate fire talking and smok¬ 
ing. I also received two letters from home. At 5:00 we had 
evening mess; we had rice, cane syrup, fried bread, sugar, 
butter, bread and coffee. The fellows who are living in these 
buildings around here have their windows camouflaged very 
well so that no light can leak out thru them. I also found 
out for the first time today that my Uncle Walter Sourbier in 
Indianapolis was dead, so I sat down and wrote a long letter 
to Aunt Ida and then went to bed. 

November 6, 1918:—There is an awful lot of “snow” going 
around about peace talk and the latest dope we have is that 
the ‘doughboys’ are about 30 kilometers in front of us and are 
still going toward the rear. Things are quiet and they say 
that the war is over for them. The weather is fine today ex¬ 
cept under foot and there it is very muddy. Quite a bit of 
second class mail came in today and after we camouflaged our 
windows a few of us sat down to read. Many of the boys 
have gone out to sit in poker games and the rest of them have 
gone to bed. ‘Mike’ [Harry A.] Brickel is in bed and he just 
yelled out that he hoped the ‘Jerries’ would stay home with 
their egg baskets tonight. I went to bed about 9 :30. 

November 7, 1918:—Well the night was about as quiet as 
we have had for the past four or five months. We got up at 
7:00 and the first thing we heard was that Austria was out 
of the war and that the allies were using all of her railroads 
and canals, etc. At 8:30 we had a stable formation where 
we groomed, fed, watered and washed harness and we did not 
get thru until 11:00 when we went in and had noon mess. 
This morning just after I left my billet I saw an American 
Y.M.C.A. girl and I’ll say. that she is the first woman I have 
seen for about four months. At 2:00 we had a pistol and 
arms inspection, and, of course mine was lost while in ac¬ 
tion. Last night we got some Y.M.C.A. stuff and our meals 
are pretty good so I guess we have no kick coming. At 3:00 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


217 


we went to stables where we groomed a little and then led 
out to water and fed. For evening mess we had silage soup, 
bread-pudding, coffee, sugar and bread. We are again hear¬ 
ing the snow’ about our battery being motorized. During 
the evening the fellows read a little, shot craps, played poker, 
while I hunted for a few cooties and then went to bed. 

November 8, 1918:—During the night I had an awful 
coughing spell and short breath and I think it is the effects 
of the gas that we were in there at Sommerance. At 7:00 we 
got up and of course the horses were taken care of before 
the men. I was put in charge of the spare line for the day 
and after all of the spare line horses had been taken care 
of I went to mess. After noon mess I took a walk down to 
the Y.M. to get a cup of hot chocolate, and there I met two 
American Y. girls, one of them the Holliday [Mary E.] girl 
from Indianapolis. At 4:00 we had evening mess and we had 
four doughnuts to the man, sugar, coffee, bread, butter and 
silage soup. [Guy F.] Chilcote has a can of jam so we are 
going to eat a little hard tack and jam and then go to bed. 
We hear that peace is practically at hand. The only thing 
remaining is the official statement of the same. It is raining 
now, kind’a cool and disagreeable. 

November 9, 1918:—This morning we got up at 7:00 went 
to stables as per usual where we watered and fed. I again 
had charge of the spare line this morning; the cannoniers 
washed the carriages while the drivers groomed the horses. 
We worked until 10:00 when the horses were sent out to 
graze. There are always guards sent along with the horses 
when they are put out to the fields to graze and while they 
were out a French plane came down in the same field. It was 
out of gas so the guards had a good time watching them 
get started again. The rest of the men were dismissed and 
will have nothing to do until 2:30. We then went to noon 
mess but it was punk as we have not drawn any rations 
lately. At 1:30 they lined us up again and told us to bring 
in the horses as there was a possibility of our moving. After 
we had the horses in at the line again we were dismissed until 
our regular 2:30 stable formation. Then we groomed until 
4:00. While we are staying in these billets we have to lay 
out our bunks as we used to do while in the training camp 


218 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


and the fellows are very disgusted because our equipment is 
in such poor shape to lay out. We also have to police our 
billet and a lot of other things that are just simply useless 
work. We are getting quite a bit of Y.M.C.A. stuff for the 
first time since the war started. [Leslie H.] Coleman and 
I built a new bunk today—on the floor, as cooties are getting 
too bad in these old bunks. The move we are to make is 
supposed to come tomorrow and we are to move up into di¬ 
visional area as we are not in it now. The 5th Army corps 
Hdqrs. are going to move into this town. It has been cloudy 
and rainy all day but now it is very clear. Good night to 
the German and their egg baskets, I am now going to bed. 

November 10, 1918:—This morning at 7:00 we got up and 
the sun was shining very brightly. We went to stables, had 
mess and then I took a good wash and shave and fried some 
bread for a little extra food. At 8:80 we had a stable for¬ 
mation. About 10:00 we ceased grooming and went to our 
rooms. Some of the fellows took baths while others fried 
bread and thus we fooled away the time until noon mess when 
we had ‘corned willie’ again. At 1:30 the order came down 
for the boys to roll their rolls and get ready to move. Lieut. 
Dawson came down as we were getting ready and told Perry 
and I to saddle immediately, so as soon as we were ready the 
three of us left. We only went one kilometer up the road to 
Harricourt where we picked out a place for the battery to 
pull in and then Lieut. Dawson went back to bring the bat¬ 
tery up. It is getting awfully cold and we had wet feet so 
we were pretty uncomfortable. We also learned that regi¬ 
mental and their bunch of paper artists had made our bat¬ 
teries move out of Bar-les-Buzancy so that they could live 
in the buildings we had. Just at dusk the battery pulled up 
and the horses were immediately put on the picket line. Hay 
was spread and all of we fellows pitched our pup-tents. We 
then went to mess. Oats then came in from supply and the 
horses were fed. Coleman and I are now going to bed. It’s 
d-cold. 

November 11, 1918:—We got up at 7:00 after having spent 
a very miserable night. Half of the time Coly [Leslie H. 
Coleman] was in the ditch and half of the time I was in the 
ditch but we did manage to keep warm. When we crawled 
out of our tent there was at least one quarter of an inch of 




A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


219 


frost all over it and believe me we were certainly cold. We 
immediately went to stables where the horses were fed and 
then we had a very good, warm breakfast. Nearly all of the 
fellows then built fires to keep warm by. At 8:30 we had a 
grooming formation and then I led the battery out to water. 
When they came back from water they started to groom. Of 
course all morning the boys were waiting for news of peace. 
Bn. had their wireless up and at 9:30 they received word 
that Germany had accepted our peace terms and that at 11:45 
there would be no more firing on any of the fronts. Of 
course the fellows had a smile on their faces but there was 
not any rejoicing to amount to anything. We sat around a 
fire talking it over until 2:30 and then we had a stable for¬ 
mation. Horses were groomed a little, fifteen minutes to the 
horse, taken to water and then we had evening mess. We 
also turned in some of our poor horses and before we go far¬ 
ther we expect an allotment of new ones. The 'snow’ is al¬ 
ready out as to what we are going to do next, and I’ll say 
that it is not very pleasing news. We are either to go to 
Austria or Germany for M.P. duty. First tho we are to go 
back to Grand Pre and there be re-equipped. The ‘snow’ 
is also that the First, Twenty-sixth and Forty-second Divisions 
go to some base port and then home, but I have little faith 
in that report. The boys are all happy but disgusted to think 
that there is a possibility of our going to Germany or Austria 
on M.P. work. After mess quite a few of we fellows sat 
around a fire talking. All vehicles have lights on and every¬ 
where lights can be seen. It is the first time for a mighty 
long while that we have seen lights after dark. Several 
bands are playing and all of the French are rejoicing but our 
boys are awfully quiet. There are already many French 
civilians here in Harricourt who have been released from the 
front. I am now going to bed. 

November 12, 1918:—At 7:00 a.m. we got up and went 
thru our regular routine of watering, feeding the horses and 
then going after our own mess. At 8:30 we had another 
stable formation where the boys led out to water and then 
groomed until 10:00. After stables the boys all sat around 
the fires they had built until noon mess time. The weather 
is very nice and sunshiny but the air is very cool and I be¬ 
lieve we are due for some snow. Most of the boys have al- 


220 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


ready moved into the Catholic church and a big barn near 
here and after the stable formation Coly [Leslie H. Coleman] 
and I just moved our pup-tents near where we always build 
our fire in the morning. We did not want to go into these 
buildings because the cooties and fleas are so bad in them. 
Even tho these fellows do sleep in this church and have about 
all of the seats taken up with blankets, the people of the 
village still hold their masses just the same. After evening 
mess we built a big fire and all of our detail men gathered 
around it. There we sat talking until about 8:00 when most 
of them went to bed. 

November 13, 1918:—We had reveille at 7:00, mess at 8:00 
this morning and then at 8:30 I took a bunch of men and 
washed harness while the rest of the men groomed. I have 
been spending very miserable nights, coughing and very short 
of breath from the gas I know, but I do think that it is get¬ 
ting better as we go along. Washing harness and grooming 
took until noon mess time so we all went in to eat. After 
mess [William H.] Bruning came around to the fire where 
we were all sitting around and gave me charge of the 
men who have court martial charges against them. These 
men are awaiting trial and while they wait, they work. I 
had them dig one great big latrine and then had them police 
the grounds all around where we are staying. This was be¬ 
ing done while all the rest of the boys were grooming. For 
evening mess we had beans, coffee, sugar, bread and pudding 
and after I had finished eating I went over to the big barn 
where the detail boys have started a big poker game. I sat 
in until about 8:30, lost 24 Francs and had to quit. After 
I left the poker game I stopped in the Catholic church where 
a great many of our fellows were staying. The ‘snow’ seems 
to have us going to Germany now. The weather is cold, clear 
but very pleasant; I am now going to bed. 


CHAPTER XI 


Germany Bound 

November 14, 1918:—Reveille was at 6:00 a.m. and the 
order was to roll rolls and be ready to move out by 7:00 a.m. 
At 9:00 the details from A and B Batteries and Bn. started 
out. It was very cold riding and both the 151st and the 149th 
were on the road so we took the fields to the side of the roads 
and made better time. The sky looks very much like snow 
but it is pleasant after one gets warmed up. At 10:00 a.m. 
we pulled into Incourt and the three details separated to find 
billets and parking space for the batteries. The 151st and 
the 149th will also be in this place. The town is very much 
torn up and I don’t believe there is a whole building in this 
place. In the section of the village that we happened to get 
there is only one whole room in the lot, so the four of us piled 
into this place, made a fire in the grate and sat down to eat 
our noon lunch. Immediately after dinner I left to bring up 
the battery and I met them about two and one half kilometers 
out of Incourt. I told Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff just how we 
stood and then led them on into our part of the town. The 
rest of the boys took care of the horses while I assigned the 
billets to the boys and you ought to have heard them yell 
when they saw what they had for a room, nothing but the 
clear sky with four walls to break the wind. Still cold and 
the ‘snow’ points to going home????? 

November 15, 1918:—We got up at 6:30 and it was very 
cold as we went down and fed the horses; we then had mess 
and then all of the detail fellows took a good wash and shave 
before 8:30. We went to stable formation where we groomed 
until 10:30 and then all of the horses were sent out to graze. 
At 2:30 we had another stable formation and we got the 
horses, fed, watered and groomed them, and then came in to 
mess. We then came in and played poker until evening mess, 
which was at 7:00 P.M. and by that time I had lost thirty 
four more Francs. It’ll break the other way I suppose if 
I stay with it long enough. We always have a fire in this 
little room and it is really comfortable; we are getting twenty 


(221) 



222 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


replacement men tonight. I think they are coming from the 
80th division. The ‘snow’ now is that we are going home 
very soon and I certainly hope so because I am getting pretty 
anxious to see some of the people again. Assembly call just 
blew and when I got out I noticed that we had 62 new horses 
from the 82nd division. We did not have enough picket line 
to tie all of them to so ‘Spick" [John C.] Ellis, [Gordon E.] 
Miller and I were sent out to steal some picket line. We 
looked all over the other batteries and around the town but 
we could see no rope except on the trucks as they passed thru 
the town, and so after one of these trucks we started. It 
did not take us very long and finally we returned to the bat¬ 
tery with enough rope to tie up the regiment. 

November 16, 1918:—We did not get up until 7:00 this 
morning and of course the first thing we did was to go down 
and feed all the horses. We then went to breakfast which 
was pretty fair and then all of the fellows took a good wash 
before starting on the work for the day. I was given charge 
of all of the new horses. I had them groomed and cleaned 
up and then got all the equipment together which came with 
them. They were then led out to water and when they came 
in they were cut out and assigned to different sections. While 
this was going on the order came down that our brigade 
would move out during the afternoon. At 3:00 P.M. [Russell 
H.] Lamkin, [Perry] Lesh, and I saddled up and got ready 
to go a little farther toward Germany. At 4:00 after a very 
cold ride we arrived at Aincreville and after eating bread, 
beans, jam and ‘corned willie’ that I had drawn from the 
kitchen I started back after the battery. By 8:00 the bat¬ 
tery had pulled in, horses had been put away and fed, and 
everything was in good order. It was certainly cold last 
night and we didn’t lose any time in crawling under the 
covers where we covered up our heads and went to sleep. 

November 17, 1918:—At 7:30 we got up; I took charge 
of the spare line and the horses were fed, the men then went 
to their own breakfasts and now we are all sitting around 
a fire. We are about one half of a kilometer from Aincreville 
on the side of a very bare hill and the wind can sure sweep 
over the top of it, and of course it is very uncomfortable. 
While we were sitting around the fire some of the fellows who 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


223 


had been snooping around came back with the report that 
on the other side of the hill was a place where an American 
outfit had been and had gone away in such a hurry that they 
could not take their new issue of harness with them. Of 
course all of the boys went over and it was not long before 
nearly the whole battery had been re-equipped. When we 
got back we were lined up for stables and there told that we 
should roll our rolls and be ready to move out by 1:00 P.M. 
Our hike yesterday was about fifteen kilometers and was a 
pretty cold one but very interesting as we went over a very 

great many of the old battle fields. Our details rode until 

about 5:00 P.M. when we came into Breheville. After we had 
found a place for the batteries I immediately started back 
to lead the column up to the place. It was dark when the 

battery had pulled into place and a picket line put up. We 

had an awful time finding water for the horses as there are 
so many outfits here in this place that all the water has been 
used up. But finally all of the work was finished and we 
went to our mess of hamburger, potatoes, gravy, coffee, sugar 
and bread. We are again sleeping out in the open but we 
are in a big valley and thus protected from the wind. 

November 18, 1918:—This morning we got up at 7:30, fed 
and watered the horses and then went to mess; the sun is 
shining this morning but even so it is very cold. At 8:30 
we had another stable formation and the men groomed for 
thirty minutes on a horse. Yesterday we came thru some 
very hilly country. The roads were fairly good except in a 
few places where they had been cut up a good deal by motor 
trucks. When we got to this village of Breheville we were 
on the summit of a very big hill and after starting down, thru 
the trees we could see the lights of the village and believe me 
lights at the end of the day are surely welcome sights. 
Leather jerkins were issued today, and some mail also came 
in; I received a few letters. After mess I sat around the fire, 
read my mail and then talked over the possibilities of getting 
home very soon. 

November 19, 1918:—At 7:00 we got up and went thru the 
usual procedure with the animals and then we went to a no¬ 
good breakfast. At 8:30 we had another stable formation 
where the men groomed practically all morning, and during 



224 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


the time the men were grooming new shirts, pants, under¬ 
wear, shoes and shelter-halves were issued. We had mess at 
11:00 and then the battery was lined up for a fine bath in the 
portable bath house that the regiment is now supplied with, 
and boy, I want to say a fine bath it was. While we were 
lined up on the outside waiting for our turn we could hear 
many oaths of agony as the boys hopped under the ice cold 
water. It was the first bath I had had for many months 
but it was so cold that I came out of it nearly frozen stiff. All 
of the other batteries are wearing their jerkins outside of 
their blouses, but our boy scout outfit has to wear theirs on 
the inside and it makes one feel like a stuffed toad. At 2:30 
we had a stable formation and the men groomed until 3:45 
during which time the buglers have been practicing. The 
horses were then blanketed and fed and at 4:00 we had re¬ 
treat, where four orders were read to the battery compliment¬ 
ing it on their work during the war. We were then dis¬ 
missed. After mess we went up on the hill and got a lot 
of wood for our fire and now all of the boys are sitting around 
the fire getting ready to start on a forty kilometer hike to¬ 
morrow. The weather has been fine today and pretty warm. 

November 20, 1918:—This morning we were awakened at 
4:30 and told to roll our rolls and be prepared to move out by 
eight o’clock. We passed thru some very beautiful country, 
hilly, not shot up; in fact there were very few shell holes 
to be seen, only a few large sized bomb holes. We rode about 
25 kilometers and at 11:30 we pulled into Montmedy. The 
sun was out all the time we were riding and it was rather 
pleasant altho a little cool. The country seems to be in very 
good condition, many gardens and much cultivated land. In 
the town which is pretty fair sized about ten stores were open 
and the place was looking pretty fair altho it did show the 
effects of some of our bombing. Just before we got into the 
town we passed quite a few German guns which had been 
left behind by them. There are very many civilians in the 
town and they have lived here under German rule for the 
past 4% years. Fact is the Germans have been out of this 
town only eight days. The town is a big rail center and is 
only 12 kilometers from the Belgium border. When we pulled 
into the town the people were all dressed up in their best 
clothes. Flags were flying and they were celebrating the 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


225 


visit of President Poincaire and two French Marshals, and 
they certainly think a great deal of the real American sol¬ 
diers. At 12:45 we sat down and ate the food we had brought 
along, and then out to meet the battery which I ran into at 
1:30. I then led them directly to our parking place where 
the horses were groomed, fed, watered and blanketed. There 
is a big barn near us and it is full of straw and the boys 
have been carrying it away to make their beds on. Some of 
the boys are in a big cantonment but since it is so crowded 
‘Coly’ [Leslie H. Coleman] and I decided to sleep outside and 
now we are lying on a foot and half of straw. Up on the 
hill just at the edge of the town there is a very big Fort 
and it looks just like a fairy tale palace; it stands so high 
and stately. They have it guarded (Americans) because they 
are afraid that it might be mined so we can not get into it 
to see the inside. 

November 21, 1918:—At 6:30 we got up, took care of the 
horses, had our breakfasts, and then rolled our rolls and pre¬ 
pared to move out. At 10:00 a.m. we passed into Belgium. 
We went thru Virton just after crossing the border, which is 
a pretty big town. Flags were flying, stores were open, the 
place was busy and there were crowds of civilians on the 
streets. The weather has been fine, clear but cold, the coun¬ 
try is beautiful all around with no signs of war, hilly and 
wooded. At 11:30 we rode into Gomery and there being no 
regimental billeting officer around we started to scout around 
for something to eat. The first thing we found was apples, 
the first we have seen since we first came on to the front. 
Several of the fellows out of Bn. bought two chickens and 
they are having them fixed up for them at 7:00 tonight. At 
4:30 I started after the battery and did not meet them until 
I got into the village before Gomery. I led them to the place 
we had selected for them where they will stay for the evening 
and the night. The officers have a room to sleep in but the 
men are out in a field in pup-tents. It is pretty cold to be 
sleeping out but the fellows do not seem to mind it as they 
are now used to it. We made about 26 kilometers today. 
Nearly all the people in this place have German money and 
you ought to see them go after the French coin. The towns 
and villages we now enter are all intact but the Germans have 
robbed the people of all the grease and meat that could be 


15—22902 


226 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


found. After the battery was all fixed [Leslie H.] Coleman 
and I went up to the civilians home where we had our meal 
of chicken, bread, coffee, sugar and potatoes. 

November 22, 1918:—At 4:30 we were aroused and at the 
line-up we were told to roll our rolls and get ready to move. 
It was still dark, very cold with a heavy frost and the stars 
and moon were out very bright. Horses were immediately 
fed and watered and at 5:00 mess call blew. It was certainly 
cold and long before I had finished eating the grease on the 
hamburger had hardened up so that I could hardly eat it. I 
drew my cup of coal black coffee, drank half of it and used the 
other half to wash my mess kit in. Yesterday at the village 
of Gomery I bought some ink and I had an awful time try¬ 
ing to get the people to give me change for my money in 
French coins. They wanted to give me German money be¬ 
cause they want to get rid of it. Finally we rode into Arlon 
a big Belgian town with all of the streets improved, cafes 
and shops all open, a wonderful big church in the center of 
the town and many many people about. We stopped for a 
little while and looked around and we could hear many of 
the people mention how nice these men of ours look in their 
uniforms. We soon started on again and at 12:45 we ar¬ 
rived at Guirsch, a small village but very clean and beauti¬ 
ful. The town was all draped with greenery, fir trees at 
the sides of the street and green boughs across and overhead; 
all had been done by the little school children in honor of the 
Americans. The school for these little children is right along 
the main street and all of the little ones came out and waved 
our flag as we passed by. The school is taught by Nuns. 
All of these people speak German or Luxemburg, and I can 
understand them very well. One woman that I talked to gave 
me a very good meal of apples, potatoes, bacon and eggs. At 
3:00 I started back after the battery and led them to where 
the battery is to be parked for the night. Coleman and I 
then went to a room in one of the civilians homes where we 
will stay for the night. There the woman gave us a bed with 
white sheets and a feather bed to sleep on. This woman also 
gave us as many apples as we could eat. I talked to the 
woman for a long while and she told me that the Germans 
had only been out of there for four days. She also told me 
all about the four years that the little village has been under 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


227 


German rule. We made about 30 kilometers today and will 
probably move out tomorrow. 

November 23, 1918:—At 4:30 we were awakened and told 
to roll our rolls and prepare to move out. We only went 16 
kilometers into the little village of Saul, Luxemburg, it is a 
small village but it seems to be very clean. There are also a 
few families of pro-Germans in this place and believe me, 
one can sure tell them. Our battalion had about two squares 
along one of the main streets for the billeting of the two 
batteries and Bn. Hdqrs., and I did all of the talking for the 
Battalion and I’ll say what little German I do know certainly 
comes in handy. I had quite a bit of talking to do to the 
mayor, or rather the Burgomeister of the village, and he has 
treated me very fine. At 1:30 I went back after the bat¬ 
tery and led them to their place in the village. The horses 
were then fed, watered and blanketed for the night and then 
Lieut. Clift and I assigned the billets to the men of the bat¬ 
tery. The detail got a very nice little room and all of the fel¬ 
lows have a good place to sleep, even tho it is on the floor. 
I then made my bed, ordered a meal from the lady of the 
house in which we are staying, bought some apples and also 
100 German cigarettes for which I had to pay 15 marks, or 
about $3.75. At 3:00 o’clock we had a stable formation and 
after that I had to go around to all of the homes where Amer¬ 
ican soldiers were staying and get the signatures of the people 
so that they could get their money from their government 
for our lodging. We had roast pork, potatoes and cabbage 
for mess and while we were eating the woman told me all 
about how the Germans stole from them, clothes, shoes, food 
and everything they could get their hands on. These people 
are very generous and they seem to like the Americans very 
much. 

November 24, 1918:—At 6:30 we got up and immediately 
fed the horses after which we had our own breakfasts. At 
8:30 we had another formation and during the morning we 
did all kinds of work, washed harness, carriages, groomed 
and were not dismissed until 11:30 when we had noon mess. 
Immediately after noon mess we were issued rubber boots, 
raincoats, sox, mess gear etc. During the afternoon we 
groomed horses again as some S.O.S. General was around and 


228 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


raised the ‘dickens’ about the horses being in such poor con¬ 
dition. At 4:20 we had an inspection of personnel and arms. 
We then went down to our room where we sat down to a good 
meal of rabbit, potatoes, beans, bread, sugar, coffee, milk 
and baked apples. I am on guard tonight and after I had 
finished eating I instructed the guard and put them on their 
posts. The ‘snow’ is now out that we are to return to the 
States; the ‘doughboys’ and engineers went thru here going 
toward the rear. Twelve fellows from the battery have 
passes to the town of Luxemburg tomorrow, and the ‘dope’ 
is that we are going to stay here in Saul for three or four 
days, so I am going to try to get a pass to Luxemburg to¬ 
morrow. 

November 25, 1918:—The battery got up at 7:00 a.m. but 
I did not as I am on guard and consequently do not have to 
stand any formations. I did get up in time for my break¬ 
fast and then I took a detail of men down to fire-up and 
warm some water for the battery to take a bath in. I stayed 
there until about 9:00 and then came back to the house and 
took a good wash and a good shave. The old man of the 
house was quite talkative this morning, so I sat down and 
talked to him until noon mess time. All afternoon I had 
nothing to do so I sat around and wrote some letters and also 
found out from the old man that we are only about 15 kilo¬ 
meters from Dommeldingen which I think was the place 
where my grandmother was born; I am going to try to go 
to that place tomorrow. After I had finished writing I went 
up to our kitchen where I drew steak, sugar, bread and gravy 
and we had them fried up for our evening meal by the little 
woman. During the rest of the afternoon I went down and 
talked to the old Burgomeister for awhile and he tells me 
that they have stopped the sale of liquor in the village to 
American soldiers because so many of them get drunk. He 
told me though that when ever I wanted any I could come 
to him and get all that I wanted. He has a big home and 
many big barns and seems to be a prosperous old fellow. 
After we had eaten our meal we sat around and talked to a 
cobbler who works in the same little building and he told us 
all about how his work has increased and how the prices have 
gone up on leather and shoes. He goes out to the different 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


229 


homes and gets the measure of the person’s foot and then 
comes back to his shop and makes the shoes. 

November 26, 1918:—We got up at 7:15, fed the horses 
and then went to our breakfast. At 8:80 we had another 
formation and went to the picket line where some of the boys 
groomed while the others cleaned the picket line. This work 
took us until 11:30 and then we went to noon mess. At 2:30 
we had another stable formation where the boys groomed 
until 4:30 and at 5:00 we had retreat where it was announced 
that the censorship of letters had been lifted and we are now 
allowed to write home whatever we want to except slander 
against the President of the United States and the Y.M.C.A. 
At retreat this evening the whole Regiment stood at the same 
time, each battery in its respective place and the regimental 
band and the buglers with their new French trumpets sounded 
retreat. We then went to the meal we always look forward 
to at our home and there we had cabbage, potatoes, bread, 
milk, sugar, coffee and baked apples. 

November 27, 1918:—This morning we got up at 7:00 and 
after reveille ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. Clift] and I immediately 
went to our rooms where we got ready to go to Luxemburg. 
We started to walk to Mersch where we catch a train for 
the city of Luxemburg and which is about nine kilometers 
from here. Luck was with us and we caught a Y.M.C.A. 
truck going to Mersch and so we rode the rest of the way 
with [Emerson K.] Loomis’s father who is a Y.M.C.A. man 
over here. Mersch is a pretty fair sized town and after look¬ 
ing it over a little we bought our tickets for Luxemburg,— 
and waited for the train. Trains are never on time in this 
country as I understand it. The train came about 8:30 and 
we piled on and looked it over. It was distinctively a Ger¬ 
man train and all of the signs on the thing were in real Ger¬ 
man. ‘Pete’ and I peered out of the window all of the way 
and the country is very, very beautiful, hilly, full of ever¬ 
greens, and green, but a low mist hung all over. Of course that 
is a characteristic of this country and on thinking it over it 
really made it beautiful. On going into a suburb of the real 
town we crossed some high stone bridges which were the dark 
stone color of an ancient bridge. They were covered with 
moss and green vines and they really looked like natural 


230 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


bridges instead of bridges built by men. Then down in the 
valleys under these old bridges could be seen a very small 
creek winding its way toward the north; the banks covered 
with tall stately firs and hemlocks. That was not all that 
could be seen in the bottom of the pretty, narrow valleys; 
the little thatched roof homes of many typical Luxemburgers 
dotted the entire course of the little stream as far as we could 
see and to liven it up many little children were standing far 
below waving at the train as it went by. It was a picture 
only for a minute but one that has always lasted in my mind. 
The first thing we did on arriving was to go to a bank where 
we changed our money and got 100 marks for 100 Francs. 
Marks only are good in the town but the shop keepers simply 
clamor for Francs as they realize that the German money 
will soon be worth nothing. We then went to a public bath 
house which is the best I have ever seen. The building is a 
very big place and every bath is in a separate room, each 
room is equipped with a big mirror, a table, a chair and the 
tub is made of white tile made in the floor. Everything is 
white tile and is spotlessly clean. After every bath the room 
is thoroughly aired and cleaned and within twenty minutes 
is ready for the next person. Men all dressed in white aprons 
have charge of a certain number of rooms and they pre¬ 
pare the water and supply the rooms with soap, and towels 
for the bath. The waiting room is a very comfortable place 
filled with big roomy chairs, tables, papers and magazines. 
One is called in his turn. There was only one thing that was 
not good and that was the quality of the soap, but that was 
due to the war. ‘Pete’ and I certainly scrubbed ourselves 
as it has been the first real bath for such a long time that 
we did not know how to act, the cost was two marks. We 
then went out into the town and bought several souvenirs 
from the little shops and then went to the biggest hotel, where 
we had our noon meal. We had veal, cabbage, potatoes, bread 
(War), butter and some float for a fair price, I don’t just 
remember how much it was. After eating we sent a few 
cards home and then went out into the town again. One 
can get just about anything one wants here. ‘Pete’ and I 
invested in some candy and cakes as it has been quite a while 
since we have had any. Street cars and busses are always 
plying the streets and the town seems to be a very busy one. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


231 


We also found some ice cream and afterwards found some 
sausage which we bought to bring home with us. The city 
itself is a very beautiful place, a big river running thru the 
center along whose banks are tall stately buildings and cross¬ 
ing the river are many fine big bridges. While we were 
playing around we found going thru the streets Luxemburg’s 
standing army, only 300 men and they looked like 300 Gen¬ 
erals, all dressed in their dress uniforms, and believe me they 
could certainly keep their eyes to the front and keep in step. 
At 6:00 we went down to the station and bought our tickets 
for Mersch and at 7:00 we got on the train and started for 
Mersch. I slept all the way. From Mersch to Saul is nine 
kilometers and that we had to walk, and I want to say it was 
certainly a warm walk. We arrived at Saul after resting 
three or four times along the beautiful moon-lit, fir-bordered 
road. It was 10:00 p.m. and I immediately went to bed. 

November 28, 1918:—At 6:15 we got up, stood reveille, 
fed the horses and then went after our breakfasts. At the 
8:30 stable formation the horses were groomed and then taken 
out for a long walk to get them limbered up again. Today 
being Thanksgiving the fellows thought that we would at least 
get some real food but A Battery gets ordinary food and all 
the rest of the organizations have tapped their mess funds 
and are eating a regular Thanksgiving dinner. At 5:00 we 
had retreat and at 6:30 ate our meal at the room here. We 
had chicken, sausage, milk, sugar, coffee, potatoes, cabbage 
and the little woman knowing that it was a feast day for us 
baked us two of the swellest apple pies that one could ever 
hope to lay eyes on. We had so much that we could not eat 
the second apple pie, so we put it away until tomorrow. We 
then went to bed; it has been raining all day long. 

November 29, 1918:—We got up at 7:00, fed the horses 
and I took a good wash and shave before breakfast. After 
breakfast we straightened up our room; we are due some 
mail today and I sure hope some comes in. At 8:00 we had 
the usual stable formation where we groomed until about 
10:00 and then we started to wash and oil harness. At 11:30 
we were dismissed and immediately went after our mess. At 
3:30 we started to groom horses again and we worked at them 
until 4:15 when we were dismissed and at 5:00 we had re- 


232 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


treat. It was a pretty hard day because the boys have to 
resist so much cold and then having to work in cold water 
certainly makes it miserable. We are now sitting in the lit¬ 
tle woman’s dining room waiting for our evening meal. She 
certainly has treated us very well and we realize just what 
we are getting. For our meal we had beef, potatoes, bread, 
sugar, coffee, milk, carrots and apple pie. Twelve of the 
other detail boys including Perry [W. Lesh], ‘Pete’ [Clarence 
E. Clift] and several others had a regular meal last night; I 
went along with Perry and they had a roast pig, which I 
bought for them and told the woman how to fix it. 

November 30, 1918:—We got up at the usual time, went 
down to the stables where the horses were fed and then came 
back after our breakfasts. At 12:00 we had mess which con¬ 
sisted of hamburger, bread, coffee, sugar and rice. During 
noon a little mail came in and I received two letters. We 
had nothing to do until 3:00 when we went to stables where 
we groomed, watered, spread hay and fed oats and at 4:00 
we were dismissed. At 5:00 we had retreat and a little more 
mail came in and I received four more letters and some 
papers. For supper we had pork, some beef, potatoes, bread, 
coffee, sugar, milk and another apple pie. We have had a 
pretty fair rest here but the fellows are rather sore because 
there is so very much ‘red tape’ to the army. Every time we 
turn around we find out that we are working under a new 
order of some sort. 

December 1, 1918:—At 7:00 we got up and immediately 
got ready to move. [Latham W.] Connell, ‘Pete’ [Clarence 
E.] Clift and I went along with Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift 
to take care of the billeting for the battery. We went thru 
Mersch and on to the small village of Brashied where the 
whole regiment will be billeted. We had a two-and-one-half 
kilometer hill to climb getting into this little village and by 
the time the horses were up to the top of it they were just 
about all in. I arranged for a meal at one of the homes here 
for six men, and too, I had arranged for a meal at another 
home for four men; I switched Maxwell on to it but the B 
Battery’s officers chased them out of the place and took the 
meal for themselves. We drew bread, butter and sugar from 
the battery and took it down to the house where we are going 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


233 


to eat and sleep tonight. We do not eat until 7:00, so I 
am going to take a good wash and shave before the meal. We 
had a very good meal at 7:00 and then I went to bed as I 
think we will move out in the morning early. Building lat¬ 
rines is not my job when we are on the move and guard duty 
is absolutely out of the question if I am to take care of the 
billeting end of things but sometimes these officers get an 
idea and God alone couldn't get it out of their heads. 

December 2, 1918:—While I was writing in my diary last 
night the man of the house saw me writing with a fountain 
pen and he certainly looked it over very well as it was the 
first one he had ever seen. This morning we got up at 4:30, 
first call, and got ready to move out, several of the men who 
had been billeted in a big barn locked the big barn door and 
all the kicking we did on the door did not get them out as 
they wanted to sleep a little longer and of course all the bat¬ 
tery got H—1 for it. At 7:30, after we had drawn lunch for 
noon we started for the next town. It was very warm, 
cloudy and misty all day long and the ride was a hard and 
tiresome one; we traveled pretty fast and finally late in the 
afternoon made the town of Rosport. The country we trav¬ 
eled through was beautiful, ancient looking, slow looking and 
a place where the people lived for the joy and health of life, 
instead of the hustle and hurry of other places I have seen. 
Stately old trees stand along the roads and also many large 
forests could be seen stretching far out to the sides of the 
road. The country is also hilly and the shade of green dur¬ 
ing the fall of the year in this country has a most comfort¬ 
able and restful effect on one. This town of Rosport is also 
a beautiful place on the banks, and in the big wonderful val¬ 
ley of the Moselle River. Just before we went down into the 
town we stopped so that we could fully appreciate the pic¬ 
ture placed before us. Across the river at a pretty fair dis¬ 
tance we could see very high bluffs simply covered with 
vineyards and the miles of scenery we could see sent a thrill 
thru us when we fully realized that we were looking into 
Germany. By dark I had found a place for the battery, 
horses, men and all, and at 6:00 I started back after them. 
By 9:00 the battery was in place, men were in their billets 
and the day's hike of forty kilometers was over. Perry and 
I immediately went out thru the town and put on a search 


234 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


for jam and apples which we found with no trouble. ‘Dick’ 
[Richard M. Bosson] went down to the battery and drew our 
beans and hamburger while ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. Clift] went 
out and bought some beef steak which we gave to the woman 
in whose house we are staying and she cooked us up a real 
meal. The detail men have a real place to stay tonight. Some 
of them have even got nice white beds. After we had eaten 
our meal and had taken a good smoke we all went to bed. 

December 3, 1918:—This morning at 4:30 we got up and 
after taking care of the horses and getting our own break¬ 
fasts we prepared to make another little move. Lieut. Clift, 
Connell, ‘Pete’ Clift and I started out ahead of the battery 
on our usual billeting detail. We got nearly to Echternach 
when a man on a motorcycle caught us and told us to report 
back to the column. So we turned and traveled slowly back 
to the column where Col. [Robert H.] Tyndall was leading his 
regiment along. He wanted to be the first one 
to cross into Germany, so it seemed. We rode with the col¬ 
umn until 10:00 A.M. when the regiment made a halt, organ¬ 
ized and then crossed the river Saar into Germany. Our 
billeting detail then left the column and traveled on ahead to 
the village of Kashenbach where only the first Bn. will be 
quartered; after we had found parking place for the battery 
and a place for the men, I started back after the battery. I 
then arranged for a meal in the home where our detail non- 
coms have a room to themselves. Arranging a meal and talk¬ 
ing for billets is nearly always my job as there is no one on 
the billeting detail who can do it. There is one German fel¬ 
low in this house who was opposite us on nearly all of the 
fronts and he sure was a peach of a fellow. He told us all 
about how the German soldiers after the armistice threw 
down their arms and threw away their heavy helmets and 
started for home. He himself had only been home about a 
week. The whole family was better to us than any French 

family I ever stayed with, and a meal, well it couldn’t be 

* 

beaten. We sat around talking until 11:00, and during that 
time I heard all about the family history, their relatives, and 
the conditions now existing in Germany and to top it off I 
wrote a long letter in English to this German’s brother in 
South Dakota. German mails have not traveled to the U.S. 
so I sent this for him thru our mails. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


235 


December 4, 1918:—This morning at 5:00 we were awak¬ 
ened and instead of standing reveille we rolled our rolls and 
reported to the picket line at 6:00. At 7:30 we started out 
on billeting detail. We rode only about ten kilometers into 
the little village of Messerich and by the time we had found 
parking space for the battery, picket line for the horses, and 
billets for the men, the regiment was already pulling in. I 
met the battery just outside of Messerich and brought them 
into place. After the horses had been watered, fed and 
blanketed for the night, mess was put out and the men taken 
to their billets. We went to our room where we sat down to 
a regular meal of sauer-kraut, potatoes, speck [bacon], jam, 
bread, coffee, sugar and a white table cloth. The people here 
do not seem to be so pleasant toward the Americans as was 
Herr Bauler for whom I wrote the letter in Kashenbach last 
night. The horses and men are pretty well gone now as 
we have been hitting the road pretty hard lately. It has been 
raining since noon and that makes things all the more miser¬ 
able. 

December 5, 1918:—This morning when we got up we went 
to the picket line with rolls rolled and ready to move out. 
We rode about 25 kilometers along the main road, and thru 
pretty country, and then turned off the main road toward the 
village of Sefferen. The village lies far down in a valley and 
the battery can never come down this big hill leading into 
the town. The whole village is divided between the whole 
regiment, and A and B Batteries have divided one quarter of 
the village between them. For our meal we had stewed ap¬ 
ples, potatoes, apple sauce, bread, coffee, milk and sugar, but 
no meat, as there was none to be had throughout the whole 
country. The old man and the old woman of the house sat 
and talked to us for a long while, and their soldier son sat 
and talked to us for a long long while, and told us all about 
the German warfare. He was at Fismes against us. The 
old lady was so glad that we treated her so well that she gave 
us a whole basket full of apples and then went out into her 
kitchen and made us fourteen waffles. They were certainly 
good and she made them just as fast as we could eat them. 
Their son had also won a German Iron Cross for bravery and 
the old people were prouder of that than they were of their 
whole home. 


236 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


December 6, 1918:—At 5:00 we all got up, rolled our rolls 
and trudged up the big hill to where the battery was parked. 
There the horses were watered and fed and things were got¬ 
ten in order for the next move. I had to change my horse as 
the old one I usually ride has worn out from the long rides 
and trots. The weather remains cloudy, damp and foggy and 
when we start in the morning we are always buried far down 
in our overcoats. We rode about 25 kilometers, lost our way 
about 10:00 and the rest of the way we went across country. 
We finally pulled into Murlenbach a very picturesque town in 
the valley of the Kyll River. The hills on either side of this 
town are very steep and green and the town lies on both sides 
of the river. The scenery is very beautiful. We then went 
to the opposite side of the river where we looked over the 
billets for our men and also ate a little bread and jam that 
we were lucky enough to ‘bum’ from the supply company. I 
also arranged a meal for the officers at the home in which 
they will stay and also one for our detail men in the house 
where we will stay. The room that I got for the detail non- 
coms is in a very big castle on the top of an awfully steep 
hill right on the main road of the town. The road leading to 
the top of the castle is a very steep one, winding and long; 
by the time we had climbed to the top of the castle we were 
ready to rest awhile. We went thru the big court yard, the 
gates were wide open, passed the immense big barns and then 
into the entrance of the place where we were met by the 
woman and her little child. She immediately showed us to 
our room and after we had put all of our belongings down 
she ushered us into the room where we were to have our 
meal. We had potatoes, beans, fresh meat, apple sauce, cof¬ 
fee, sugar, bread and gravy. After we had finished our meal 
the man of the castle whose name is Herr Murlenbach, took 
us into one of the rear rooms of the castle, which seemed to 
us like one of the treasure rooms, and a treasure room it was 
too. In it he had three tables simply piled full of great big 
(and small ones too) Turkish and Macedonian rugs, ham¬ 
mered brass work and many other valuable pieces of art which 
he claims he bought with his wages while in the army (Ger¬ 
man) in Macedonia. Dick [Richard M. Bosson] and I looked 
at one another when he said this, because he is a big strong 
German and we think that he just about stole all of these 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


237 


pieces of art, as there are fully ten thousand dollars worth 
of rugs alone and we do not believe he would spend that much 
for rugs during a war time. He certainly had a collection. 
I then went out into the village where I had to get the signa¬ 
ture of all of the families harboring American soldiers, turned 
it into Battalion and then went back to the castle. Our room 
has a piano in it and after playing around on it for awhile 
the old boy Murlenbach came in with one of the most won¬ 
derful looking little daughters I ever hope to see. The lit¬ 
tle girl was only about three or four, if that old with pretty 
white curls down her back and the plumpest, roundest face 
I have ever seen. She first sat down at the piano and sang 
a little German song for us and every time she would wish 
to thank us for something she would make a little grace with 
it. Finally the child’s mother came in and took the child 
away to bed, and then we started to talk to the man who 
had been a top-sergeant in a German outfit. After we had 
talked for a little while I asked him if he was not glad that 
the war was over, and he immediately turned around and 
looked me over and then said in a very stern tone “NO”. 
Dick and the boys saw from the beginning that he was a 
little radical and when he got ‘peeved’ at the question I asked 
him they all wanted to know what he said but I was afraid 
they would start something and I would not tell them. They 
all walked over and got close to their guns while I happened 
to be wearing mine. The old boy was certainly bitter not 
so much against the Americans but bitter that they had lost 
the war, he said, “four times have I gone forward with my 
company and never did I taste defeat, and then to have the 
Germans give up at this stage, “No, I wish that they were 
still fighting.” His wife then came into the room and prob¬ 
ably knew that his temper would get him in bad so she took 
him by the arm, patted him on the cheek and said that she 
was glad that it was over and glad for her little girl that the 
father was back again. At that the old boy cooled down 
shook hands with each of us, wished us a good journey home 
and he and his wife left the room. Then all of the fellows 
wanted to know what he said but I would not tell them so we 
all went to bed. I am glad that I am the only one here to¬ 
night who can understand just a little German. 

December 7, 1918: — We left Murlenbach about 9:00 A.M. 


238 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


We followed the river Kyll all of the way winding in and out 
the hills or rather mountains and back and forth across the 
bridges until we at last arrived at the fair sized town of 
Gerolstein. The scenery was very beautiful along the way 
and the ride seemed very short altho we made about 20 kilo¬ 
meters. We immediately went thru the town and found 
enough room for all of the men in only four houses, parking 
space for the battery was also easily found. At 5:00 they 
pulled in and after all work was done the men were taken to 
their billets. I took the detail men to two rooms containing 
six double beds and there we put up for the night. At 6:00 
the woman had a meal ready for us and we ate bread, jam, 
potatoes, beans, salad, coffee, sugar, and in all it was a very 
good meal. We will move out in the morning again so we 
are now going to bed to get some good sleep. 

December 8, 1918:—At 5:00 we got up rolled our rolls and 
reported to the picket line. We ate our breakfasts, fed, 
groomed and watered the horses and then [Latham W.] Con¬ 
nell, Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift, ‘Pete’ [Clarence E.] Clift and 
I left at 7:30. We took the cross country route and only 
traveled about nine kilometers to the village of Kerpen; the 
battery however traveled about twenty kilometers as they had 
to come a round about way, by road. By noon we had fin¬ 
ished our work; I had arranged a meal for the Lieutenants 
and also a meal for the three of we detail men. The lady 
of the house was very, very fine to us. She prepared us a 
regular meal, we had pork-tenderloin, potatoes, she also 
warmed a can of beans we had brought along, gave us apple 
sauce, coffee, milk, sugar and bread, and when the meal was 
over she would not take a cent for the whole thing. After 
we had finished eating I made out a list of our billets, and 
then went after the battery. When they pulled into their 
parking place at Kerpen the horses were groomed, watered 
and fed and the men were immediately taken to their billets. 
The detail's non-coms got a room and the rest of the detail 
men went into the hay loft; I also arranged for a meal for 
the fellows in our room. We had two kinds of meat, pota¬ 
toes, apple sauce, bread, sugar, coffee and the cost was only 
six marks for the six men, even cheaper than we could eat 
at home. The country is really mountainous but very beau¬ 
tiful. The people in this country and especially in this little 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


239 


village treat us fine, even better than we have been treated 
at any other place. 

December 9, 1918:—At 6:30 we got up and immediately 
went down and fed the horses; we then came back and ate 
our breakfasts and at 8:00 we had a stable formation. The 
men first thoroughly groomed the horses and then they 
washed harness. Dick [Richard M. Bosson], [Claude] Moul- 
den and I cleaned out the fourgon and then we all went to 
noon mess. At 1:00 p.m. Lieut. Clift called me and I had to 
go and talk to the Bourgomeister for him to see whether he 
would buy some extra shoe leather that we had along with 
us. The old boy bought it alright. I am on guard tonight 
so after my bath I immediately went out and instructed the 
corporals of the guard. At 6:00 I posted the first relief and 
then came back to our room where we had a meal of two 
chickens, potatoes, gravy, bread, sugar and coffee. After the 
meal I went out and inspected my guard and now I am going 
to bed. The boys are going to be reviewed by the Colonel 
tomorrow and they have been slicking up all day long; being 
on guard I will not have to stand the fence-post review. 

December 10, 1918:—I got up with the bugler this morn¬ 
ing and went around with him to each of the billets as he 
blew first call; my duty was to see that all the men got up. 
About 4:00 P.M. I walked over to the orderly room where there 
is always a bulletin hanging. The orderly room is in the home 
where we ate our first good meal when we arrived in this 
village, and while I was reading the little woman who waited 
on us during that meal came out and spied me there. She 
would not rest until I had gone into the house with her and 
there she filled me so full of waffles that I could hold no more. 
It was surely a treat and I certainly felt as if I had been 
stuffed. The brother, who had been in the war also told 
me that he would get me one of the “Gott Mit Uns” belt 
buckles. 

December 11, 1918:—At 6:30 we got up and immediately 
went down and fed the horses. At reveille it was announced 
that there would be no call until 10:00 A.M. Until 10:00 the 
boys spent slicking up and getting their equipment in order 
as there is to be an inspection of arms at 2:00 P.M. At 
10:00 we went to stables where we groomed, watered and fed 


240 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


and then we ate our noon mess. As luck would have it it 
was raining and the inspection was called off. At 3:00 we 
went to stables where we watered and fed and at 4:00 we 
had retreat where a few orders were read telling us how we 
were to treat the German people, etc. They also took the 
numbers of the arms we carried and all of the officers of the 
regiment were called to the general P.C. for orders this after¬ 
noon. 

December 12, 1918:—This morning at 6:30 when we got 
up it was raining and very miserable; the first thing we did 
was to go down to the picket line and feed the horses. We 
then ate our breakfasts and at 8:30 we had a stable forma¬ 
tion, then were dismissed until 11:15. ‘Pete’ [Clarence E.] 
Clift and I spent the morning hunting some meat that we 
could buy, and we finally found some fresh cured pork which 
we will have for our evening meal. The weather is awful 
and the boys are very restless, they wish to be doing some¬ 
thing all the time; they are now complaining about the qual¬ 
ity and quantity of food they are getting. Many of the boys 
have been eating out with these German families, but money 
is running very low and quite a few of them have had to 
go back to the mess line. Very much ‘snow’ is floating around 
about our going back home but I do not think there is any 
foundation to it. We are due a little mail this afternoon 
but of course we can never tell when it will come in. The 
picket line during this rainy weather is just one mass of mud 
and the horses are a sight; it is nearly impossible to groom 
them. We have not been paid since November 13th. and we 
are due the pay from then on thru November and December, 
that’s why a great many of the fellows are broke. The days 
are very gloomy and the boys are getting very, very im¬ 
patient and always want to be moving on. 

December 13, 1918:—We got up at 6:30 and immedi¬ 
ately went down to the picket line; it had rained all night and 
the place was certainly a sight, horses were full of mud and 
some of them looked like regular mud statues. Immediately 
after breakfast we again went down to the picket line where 
the picket line was moved to a dry spot so that the horses 
could get a rest. The mud has really been so bad that the 
horses were pulling their shoes off in it and it was nearly 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


241 


knee deep on the men. Hay was then spread over the picket 
line and the horses legs were wiped down with it. After 
noon mess we lined up and signed the pay roll and then had 
nothing to do until afternoon stables at 3:00. The opinion 
seems to be rather general that we move out tomorrow very 
early in the morning, and too, that there is going to be mail 
in tonight. They say that our next hike will be one about 
40 kilometers and then we will be at our destination. Over 
150 men of our battery ate their evening meal outside the 
kitchen tonight. The day has been a very miserable one, cold, 
rainy and windy. 

December 14, 1918:—At 5:15 we were awakened and told 
to roll our rolls and prepare to move out. By daylight the 
horses were thru eating, the men had had their breakfasts 
and all were ready to pull out. About 7:00, [Latham W.] 
Connell, ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. Clift], Lieut. Clift and I started 
out on the billeting detail. During our ride we went thru 
some of the best scenery I have seen yet. We wound in and 
out the big valley of a river with low mountains up on each 
side of us, crossing and re-crossing the river and once thru 
a short tunnel. There is also a very good railroad system 
running thru this valley and everything looks as clean and 
beautiful as one could wish for. I also found out that this 
river is the river Ahr. We arrived at Antwiller at 12:00 
and immediately found a place for the battery to park and 
billets for the men. After we had finished our work for the 
battery we had a good meal at the home of the Bourgomeister. 
We had sausage, pork, potatoes, apples and beans and bread 
that we had brought along from the battery. The battery 
pulled in very early and the horses were groomed, watered 
and fed and then all of the men were taken from the park¬ 
ing space to their billets. The privates of the detail are liv¬ 
ing in a barn and the non-coms are in one room. For our 
evening meal we drew our beans, coffee, sugar and bread and 
the old woman of the house cooked some potatoes, meat and 
apple sauce for us. I then went to the house next to this 
one where I was lucky enough to be able to buy a “Gott Mit 
Uns” belt buckle. 

December 15, 1918:—This morning we got up at 5:00, got 
our junk together, ate our breakfasts, fed and watered the 


16—22902 



242 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


horses, saddled up and by 7:00 we were all ready to leave. 
All morning we rode along the beautiful Ahr valley, scenery 
could not be any more interesting than this, the sides of the 
valley are of solid stone, towering some five hundred feet 
above the waters of the river. There is also a double track 
standard gauge railway running up this valley and I also 
noticed very many tunnels and bridges of the old type of 
construction. At 11:00 we pulled into a small “dorf” by the 
name of Honningen and there it was an easy matter to find 
place for the materiel, horses and men. After the meal we 
went out and looked the situation over and at 3:00 I started 
back after the battery. They pulled in about 3 :30 and after 
all the work of feeding, watering and grooming was done we 
billeted the men. Tomorrow we reach our destination and 
believe me we will certainly be glad of it. A batch of mail 
came in while we were on the road today and I received about 
ten letters. 

December 16, 1918:—At 5:00 we got up, immediately rolled 
our rolls and went down to the picket line. Connell, ‘Pete’, 
Lieut. Clift and I started sharp at 7:00 on the usual billet¬ 
ing detail. Between 5:00 and 7:00 we fed, watered and 
groomed and then we saddled up and reported to the gather¬ 
ing place of the details for B Battery, Bn. and our men. We 
rode thru the mountains following up the railroad all of the 
way, we also went thru many tunnels, over many high bridges 
and over much beautiful winding road. After passing thru 
many, many small villages we rode thru Ahrweiler which is 
a very good sized place and a very good and clean looking 
town. While passing thru I noticed that our divisional head¬ 
quarters was stationed there. We finally rode into Bad 
Neuenahr a very pretty place, the town being split by the Ahr 
river which is rather swift as it is fed from the mountains 
and has only about ten kilometers to go to reach Rhine River. 
It is a big place, all modern, asphalt streets, large hotels, 
cigar stores, toy shops, candy shops, tailor shops, jewelry 
shops and in fact any kind of a store that one could wish for. 
From our side of the town we are only twenty minutes walk 
from the famous Neuenahr mineral water springs and the 
“Appollinaris Brunnen”. We are about thirty-five kilometers 
from Coblenz. Our picket line is now in the play ground of 
the big public school and about half of our men are billeted 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


243 


there. The rest of the men are in the Hotel Rheingold where 
we occupied about forty beds. The battery pulled in about 
3 :30 and the horses were immediately groomed, fed and wa¬ 
tered and then the men were taken to their billets and at 
5:00 mess was served. After the meal Perry [W. Lesh] and 
I started out to try to find a place where we could have an 
evening meal prepared every evening for about six of us. 
We found one place where the woman said she would make 
a meal for us, but there were about ten kids there who hung 
all over us so we went out to try to find another place. We 
then went down the street from our hotel just a little piece 
where we saw a little baker shop and we decided that it would 
be an ideal place to eat every evening if we could only make 
the arrangements. We went in to the little shop and found 
a young girl of about fifteen waiting on the trade, so we 
waited until all of the people were out of the store and then 
we asked her whether or not we could have our evening meal 
made there and she immediately went after her mother. I 
believe what little German I can speak carried the meal propo¬ 
sition over and we then completed our plans. About six of 
we fellows will eat here every evening as long as we stay 
here. 

December 17, 1918:—At 6:15 we got up and went to feed 
the horses; then came back after our breakfasts. At 8:30 
we again went to stables where we groomed until 10:00 and 
then the fellows were given the rest of the day to clean up 
and get the rest of their equipment in order. At noon the 
horses were fed and not until 3:30 did we go down to stables 
again. At 4:15 we stood retreat and then I mounted guard 
and immediately brought my blankets down to the school 
house where the guard house has been established. Perry 
[W. Lesh], ‘Pete’, Connell, Maxwell and I then drew our food 
from the kitchen and took it down to the baker shop where 
the woman certainly put us up some feed. 

December 18, 1918:—This morning I reported down to the 
guard house with my three Corporals. Each corporal had to 
take a shift during the day at ‘doughboying’ a bunch of men 
from the battery who had missed calls during the past few 
days. The rest of the battery washed harness and cleaned up 
the carriages. At noon the sergeants found that the woman 


244 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


who runs our hotel would cook for us and we would have 
three meals a day, one at 7:00 A.M., one at 12:00 noon and 
one at 5:00 at the cost of two marks per day, per man. An 
order also came down saying that all men going outside of 
their billet would have to wear side-arms. The town of Bad 
Neuenahr is the largest thermal bathing place in Germany, 
it is full of stores of all kinds and is the real center of the 
life of Spa. During the whole afternoon I walked around 
town and looked at the sights but I got back in time to draw 
our food from the kitchen and go to the baker shop where 
we had our evening meal. During the meal Coleman said 
he had found a place where he could buy a piece of pie so 
we did not linger long but went down to the place where we 
ate pie and drank a glass of beer. It was the first glass of beer 
I have had and I drank only half of that. We then bought 
a couple of good cigars and then went home and went to 
bed. 

December 19, 1918:—At 6:15 we got up and fed and wa¬ 
tered the horses before breakfast. At 8:30 we had a forma¬ 
tion and instead of going to stables we were told to get our 
clean clothes and line up for a bath. We marched over across 
the river to the ‘Kurhaus’ the largest bath house here and 
we all had a fine hot mineral bath. The bath-room is about 
twelve by twelve, all tile floor and the walls half way up are 
of tile. The room contains one big couch, two big chairs, 
two big mirrors and one big window of stained glass. The 
tubs are built in the floor and are six feet long, four feet wide 
and three feet deep. It certainly was a wonderful bath, two 
fellows bathed together; they supplied towels as big as table 
cloths and two small bath towels per man. We were allowed 
to stay in the room as long as we liked and we certainly stayed 
in and soaked. After we got back from the bath house we 
had a stable formation where we groomed until noon. For 
our noon mess we had potatoes, beans, bread and coffee. Di¬ 
rectly after noon mess Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift came after 
me and I had to go with him up into the main part of town 
where the battery is trying to get a whole cafe for the Christ¬ 
mas dinner. We went in to the cafe and I had to do the talk¬ 
ing to the owner of the place and finally after about a half 
hour’s talking we rented the whole place including the use 
of the bar, ovens in which to do our cooking, dishes and all. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


245 


These people are to supply the liquor and we will buy it from 
them. I had my picture taken today and am having the films 
developed that I took while on the front. After supper I 
had a little date with a German girl up the street but I didn’t 
stay very long. We hear a very great deal of new “snow” 
now; one thing very good and that is that we are to get 
paid tomorrow. Many of the men have been sent back to 
some place in France where they will bring back motors for 
the battery. I also bought an Iron Cross for Perry [W. 
Lesh] and a few more belt buckles for some of the fellows, 
and I also borrowed some money for myself, I think I now 
owe something like forty dollars. 

December 20, 1918:—At 6:15 after standing reveille we 
fed the horses and then came back for our mess. We groomed 
until about 10:00; from 10:00 to 11:00 we cleaned and 
washed harness and then we watered and fed the horses. 
After our noon mess we were lined up and issued pay-books, 
these books are good only when we are away from the outfit 
and then we can draw only seven and one-half dollars a 
month on them so they are just about worthless. Perry and 
I went over to the Y.M.C.A. which is in the Kurhaus and I 
tried to cash a money order that I received in a letter this 
morning, it was for fifty dollars and they would not cash it. 
On our way back to the battery we stopped in regimental 
where there were two sacks of mail for the battery and we 
carried them back. After stables were over we all stood a 
regimental retreat and then Perry and I again went over 
to the Y.M.C.A. where they cashed my check for me. 

December 21, 1918:—We got up at the usual hour, 6:15, 
went down to the stables where we fed and watered the 
horses and then came back after our breakfasts. At 8:30 
we again lined up and went to stables where we groomed for 
one half hour on a horse and then we lined up and had an 
inspection of arms by Major Sidney S. Miller. He also looked 
over the harness and the materiel and after he left we again 
groomed the horses for a while, watered and fed and then 
went to noon mess. After noon mess we went (Lieut. Charles 
D. Clift and I) to the proprietor of the Flora Hotel to see 
whether or not we could get our men in there instead of hav¬ 
ing them in the school house. 


246 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


December 22, 1918:—Some encouraging news before we 
went to bed last night came in from the Chaplain and it was 
that we are to start home by the tenth of next month. At 
6:15 this morning we got up and went thru our usual work 
before we had our own breakfasts. At 8:15 we went to 
stables and to get out of work some of the fellows got permis¬ 
sion to go to church. We groomed until about 10:00 and 
then Sgt. [Jonas F.] Prather issued some shoes that had 
just come in to the battery, I got a pair of russet shoes out 
of it. We had a good noon mess; we had nothing to do until 
3:00 P.M. so I sat down and wrote some letters. When the 
battery went to stables the fellows who had missed reveille 
this morning had to walk to the top of the big hill over near 
the Kurhaus under full pack, that being the mode of punish¬ 
ment. The boys at stables only groomed 15 minutes on a 
horse and then they dismissed us. These Germans today cele¬ 
brated the war being over and their sons being back all in 
one piece. When I brought the food down in the afternoon 
they simply filled me with wine and little cakes. The boys 
of our battery who had been living in the school house moved 
today into another big hotel even better than the one we are 
in. 

December 23, 1918:—We have nothing to do now until 3:15 
and I have been helping [Sgt. Jonas F.] Prather get Xmas, 
boxes together so that he can put them out to the boys; many 
Christmas boxes are now coming in. I had finished helping 
Prather by 1:00. At 4:15 we had our usual retreat and then 
the six of us went down to the baker shop where we had 
a very fine evening meal. After the meal Perry and some 
more of the fellows went over to the Y.M.C.A. and I went 
up to a cigar store where I bought some cigars; from there 
I went over to a jewelry store in the Kurhaus and bought a 
very nice pin to take home. 

December 24, 1918:—At 6:15 we got up, fed the horses, 
stood reveille and then came back to breakfast. At 8:15 we 
again went to stables where we groomed until 9:30. We had 
nothing to do then until 1:00 so I went into the Sgts. room 
where I hung around until after noon mess and then I went 
up into my room where I opened my Christmas box which 
came in this morning. It certainly was a treat too. At 1:00 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


247 


we lined up and had a regular review before the Colonel. 
After the review we had a stable formation, we had no retreat 
so our bunch went down to the baker shop where we had 
a meal of hamburger, potatoes, milk, sugar, coffee, bread and 
sauce. After the meal the bunch of us went over to the big 
Kurhaus theatre where regimental put on a very good show. 
After the show we all came back to the hotel where our bunch 
put out candy and passed Christmas boxes around to one 
another. Pay day ‘snow’ as well as going home ‘snow’ is 
floating very thickly now. I also received some mail. Christ¬ 
mas eve has been a very pleasant one. 

December 25, 1918:—We had no reveille this morning and 
we did not get up until 8:00 a.m. When we came down to 
breakfast we were very surprised to see our whole mess room 
decorated with colored crepe paper, a Christmas tree all 
lighted in the middle of the table and also many dishes of 
cakes and apples all around over the table. After breakfast 
I came down to the Sergeants mess room where I wrote sev¬ 
eral letters home and then I lay around with the rest of the 
fellows until noon mess time. We had a good noon mess of 
potatoes, roast pork, slaw, gravy, bread, butter, pickled apples, 
apple pie, cakes, coffee, sugar, milk and many other good 
things to eat. After the meal I sat down and wrote another 
letter home to mother. I then walked out to the orderly room 
and there found out that I went on guard at 5:00 P.M. I 
immediately looked up my corporals, gave them a list of the 
names of the privates on guard and then went to stable forma¬ 
tion. [William H.] Brunning, Dick Bosson, [Bryant W.] 
Gillespie and I had all chipped in on all the champagne we 
could buy to be used at the Christmas celebration tonight; 
the three of them were already feeling very fine as a result 
of a little too much during the afternoon. At 4:00 P.M. we 
were dismissed and we all immediately went up to the hall 
where our Christmas celebration will be held, the hall was 
decorated very nicely with evergreen, crepe paper and other 
things, and there were enough seats to accommodate every 
man in the battery. Every man was supplied with a plate 
of food; we had chicken, duck, potatoes, gravy, slaw, dress¬ 
ing, butter, bread, coffee, sugar, milk, apple sauce, puddings, 
pies and fruits. All of the officers gave a talk, as did the 
Colonel. [Vernon] Kniptash gave his parody on the army 


248 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


which was rich, many fellows played the piano and some 
string music. Arthur J. Von Burg and Chester Neff put on 
a little sketch and the saxaphone sextette put on some hot 
music. The bar was open full sway for the boys and they 
had 2000 liters of beer for the boys. I don’t know how much 
wine and champagne. The Sergeants had a table all to them¬ 
selves and Dick, Bruning, Gillespie and I had a table all to 
ourselves. Between the four of us we had twenty-seven 
quarts of red and white Rheinland Champagne and I sat 
down to drink as I never had before. Bruning dropped by 
the way as far as senses are concerned long before the rest 
of we fellows and got too noisy and now he wears a very 
beautiful shiner. I felt myself slipping so I went over to 
Perry and told him to please see that I got home O.K. Not 
long after that I went, and Perry guided me down the street 
and around the corner to the hotel. We certainly had a regu¬ 
lar time of it. Perry and I both went to bed early this morn¬ 
ing. 

December 26, 1918:—I stayed in bed this morning until 
breakfast time, got up feeling fine and then took sick call 
over to the medical station. After noon mess Lieut. Clift 
and several more of the fellows including myself went down 
to the school yard where we kicked a few new foot balls 
around. These foot balls were given us by the Red Cross. 
While we were playing pay-day call blew and of course we 
all stopped to go after our pay. A little mail also came in 
and we were informed that there would be a little in every 
afternoon from now on. They have also done away with the 
drill schedule. 

December 27, 1918:—At 6:15 when we got up and stood 
reveille we noticed that our lines were rather deserted and 
upon investigation we found that since the boys had been paid 
several of them were pretty full and were unable to report 
for reveille. [Cecil L.] York, [Oakley E.] Shinn, [Leroy R.] 
Thomas, [Paul W.] Mullikin and a few others had cleaned out 
a cafe last night and Thomas had been pinched by the M.Ps. 
They took him to the guard house where, because he was so 
loud they put him on the second floor, but Thomas was not 
to be held so easily, so out of the window he went and to 
the hotel he came and went to bed. He was not in bed very 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


249 


long however before the M.Ps. were here after him and now 
he resides in the guard house. Lieut. Knaff got him out this 
morning in time for him to catch a train for France where 
he and several other of the fellows are going after trucks to 
bring back to the battery. We are to turn in our horses very 
soon and get a complete motor equipment set. The One Hun¬ 
dred Sixty-eighth Ambulance company turned over all of their 
equipment today and the ‘snow' is that we are going to leave 
here by the 10th of next month. ‘Dick', Perry, ‘Pete' and 
I then went down to the stables where we saddled up our 
horses and then we met Lieuts. [Aloys] Knaff and [James I.] 
Dawson at Major [Sidney S.] Miller's P.C. We took the 
aiming circle and the chain along and we all started out, we 
did not know where they were bound for but we followed up. 
We rode about ten kilometers up towards the Rhine where 
we located a new emergency gun position and O.P. While 
Lieut. Knaff and the major were looking around I tracked 
some rabbits in the light skift of snow that had fallen over 
these hills. I saw three but could not hit them with a 45. on 
the run, there seem to be plenty of them. After all of the 
work was done we fed the horses and while they were eat¬ 
ing we took a walk to the top of the big surrounding hills 
which overlook the Rhine. We are the first ones out of our 
battery to see the Rhine. After we had looked at the stream 
for awhile we came back to our horses and started back 
toward the battery. It was pretty cold riding and our horses 
were pretty ‘peppy.' On our way back very near the town 
of Neuenahr we passed the Appollinaris Mineral Springs 
Company. When the evening meal was over [Howard H.] 
Maxwell and I went around to a book store where we bought 
some pencils and things. Perry [W. Lesh] and I are going 
back to the new O.P. in the morning and start on a sketch 
of the Rhine, the country across the Rhine and the stream 
as far up and down it as we can see. I have had a very 
good headache ever since Christmas night and I think I will 
now go home and go to bed. 


CHAPTER XII 

My Last Two Months in Europe 

December 28, 1923:—This morning immediately after 
reveille and breakfast Perry [W. Lesh] and I saddled up and 
started up toward the O.P. While riding along the valley 
of the river Ahr we took out time and saw some very in¬ 
teresting scenery. The roads are very good going up 
towards the Rhine and there are several little vil¬ 
lages to pass thru on the way. When we got up to 
Sinzig we decided that we would like to have a better look 
at the Rhine so we went across country, thru the fields and 
lanes to its banks. There we dismounted and watched sev¬ 
eral of the largest river boats go by; the stream is pretty 
wide here at this point and very swift. The country sur¬ 
rounding it is very beautiful, hilly, long gradual sloping ones, 
and far across the river one can see quite a few castles nestled 
up among the hills. The towns,—we could see three of them 
from where we were,—are all built right on the river's banks 
at the foot of these wonderful big hills, or they may be called 
mountains. The Ahr river comes into the Rhine at nearly 
a right angle and of course both of these valleys harbor a 
good rail system. We also saw many ducks on the river and 
the river itself was up, due to some of the recent rains we 
have been having. We then rode back thru Sinzig where we 
stopped for a few minutes and bought some pie that we saw 
in one of the shop windows. We then went on up to the O.P. 
where we fed our horses and sat down and ate our bacon 
sandwiches and pie. Perry then went out to hunt some rab¬ 
bits with his 45. and I sat down to try to do some sketching. 
It was very cold and the wind whistled over the top of the 
hill along with a little winter sleet and I got very little done. 
As I was trying to work I heard old Perry banging away 
with his 45. so I went after him to see whether he had got 
in a fight or was shooting at rabbits. When I found him, to 
my surprise he had a rabbit which he had killed on the run 
with his 45. We hunted a little longer without any luck, 
cleaned the rabbit and then started back toward the battery. 
We then took the rabbit down to the baker shop where the 
woman will fix it for us tomorrow evening. The woman 


( 250 ) 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


251 


made potato cakes for us this evening and they certainly were 
good. 

December 29, 1918:—This morning we got up at 6:15, went 
down and took care of the horses and then had our breakfasts. 
I sat around in the kitchen with the old man, Herr Comes 
until about 6 :00 P.M. when the rest of the fellows came down 
and we ate our evening meal. We had the rabbit that Perry 
killed yesterday, along with some good potatoes and a few 
other little things, and it was a very good meal. After the 
meal I went down to the book store where I bought some 
more pen points and other things that I needed and from 
there I went across the Ahr river to the Kurhaus jewelry shop 
where I bought another pin to bring home with me. I looked 
at much of their stuff and talked to them a long while about 
the conditions etc.; these people seem to be very nice people 
and they treat me very fine just because I speak a little Ger¬ 
man. 

December 30, 1918:—I worked all morning long on the 
sketch while the rest of the battery went down to stables and 
did a few other things about the battery. At noon we had 
a fine meal of steak and potatoes and of course a few other 
necessary things and then we all sat around until 1:00 P.M. 
when the other fellows had to leave. Today the fellows are 
cleaning up the big stables at the Appollinaris Springs and 
tomorrow all of the horses and the materiel will be moved 
down there. I worked until 4:00 P.M. and then [Leslie H.] 
Maxwell and I went across the river to the jewelry shop and 
bought some more things to take home with us. We then 
drew our mess from the kitchen and went down to the baker 
shop where we had our usual good evening meal. After we 
had eaten we started out to look the town over once more. 
We played around in every imaginable place in the town and 
at last we landed in the Kaufmann cigar store on one of the 
main streets of the town. There we stood around talking for 
about an hour, smoking and having a good time with some 
of the old German fellows who came in to buy cigars. 

December 31, 1918:—We all got up at 6:15 as usual, fed 
the horses, stood reveille and then came back to our room 
where we always have a good warm breakfast. I worked 
until noon mess time on my tracing and then I stopped and 


252 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


ate mess with the fellows, and believe me we always have a 
mighty fine mess. Just as we had finished eating Lieut. 
[Aloys] Knaff came in and told the fellows that we would 
have the hall we had for the Christmas celebration, tonight 
from 7:00 to 1:00 a.m. When we arrived at the hall where 
we are going to celebrate the coming of the New Year there 
were already men there who were just about gone and all 
of them seemed to be having a very fine time. I saw more 
wine, champagne, beer, snaaps, etc., than I ever did before, 
and by 9:30 they were already taking some of the boys home. 
At 10:30 there was no one left at the hall but the Sergeants. 
I went to bed about 11:15 and I don’t believe there were over 
fifteen men up at the hall at 12:00. 


January 1, 1919:—We did not get up until 7:30 and then 
only about half of the battery was out for reveille, the other 
half could not get up. What men there were of us went down 
and fed and watered the horses and then came back and had 
breakfast. I decided to lay around for another day so I said 
that I was going to work some more on my sketch, the rest 
of the men went down to stables and worked around there all 
morning while I sat around in the Sergeants room smoking 
and writing a few letters. About 4:00 p.m. I washed and 
put my material away and read an American Magazine for 
awhile. About 5:00 I went down to the baker shop and sat 
down with old man Comes drinking wine and eating little 
hard cakes until it was time for our meal. 

January 2, 1919:—At 6:15 first call blew and we went 
thru the usual morning exercise. I decided to stay in today 
as my left eye is hurting just as my right eye did when I 
had to go to the hospital at San Nazaire. We are to have 
an inspection of quarters by the Colonel [Robert H. Tyndall] 
this morning at 9:00. I sat around in our room the rest of 
the morning and after the noon meal I went over to try to 
find Capt. Frank Bushmann in regard to my sketch but I 
could not find him. I then came back to the room where I 
sat around and read until 5:30 when I went down to the baker 
shop and had my evening meal. I came back to the orderly 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


253 


room and watched the men work on the battery paper assign¬ 
ment which is being brought up to the present date. 

January 3, 1919:—I also went on guard last night so I got 
up with the rest of the fellows and went over to our kitchen 
where I got the food for the Sergeants mess. The Sergeant 
on guard always gets the food from the kitchen, brings it 
to the woman and she cooks it for us. Sergeants on guard 
never do anything all day long so that is why they get the 
food for the rest of the men. Immediately after breakfast I 
again went over to the kitchen where I drew the food for 
the noon mess and then I sat down and wrote some letters. 
After noon mess Sgt. [Norvin E.] Green and I went over to 
our kitchen and drew the food for the evening mess. All the 
fellows wanted dumplings so we drew flour and took it to 
the woman and tried to tell her what we wanted but we 
could not make her understand, so we tried to show her how 
to make them. Green and I stayed there and watched the 
first few come out of the process and then we left. I don’t 
know what was lacking but when she put them on the table 
they were merely pieces of heavy soppy dough. 

January 4, 1919:—There is to be a big inspection today 
and Perry [W. Lesh] and I are out of it. Perry is going up 
to the Rhine and add some to my sketch. I am compiling a 
complete list of the stops, villages, towns and gun positions 
where we have stayed over night since we have been 
in Europe. This list has to be made up for the Battalion and 
they say we can not go home until we have it complete. 1 The 
battery records are not complete in that respect so I am mak¬ 
ing the list for them out of my diary. [Henry T.] Wheeler, 
the battery clerk, and I worked on this list until 11:30 and 
then stopped for noon mess. After mess Wheeler and I again 
started on the list; we worked until 4:00 and finally got it 
finished. The ‘snow’ is still floating around that we are due 
to go to Russia and also that we are going home; there is a 
regular drill schedule now, reveille and retreat and the boys 
are certainly working. 

January 5, 1919:—At 7:00 a.m. we got up, stood reveille, 
went to the stables and came back and had breakfast. I 
wrote letters until about 10:00 and then I went to sleep until 


1 See page 344. 



254 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


boys came in I got up and listened to the ‘snow’ and then 
went down to the baker shop where I sat around with old 
12 :00 when we had noon mess. It is now 1:00. When the 
Herr Comes until the rest of the gang came down after the 
evening meal. We have to be very careful now as we are 
not supposed to be in any of the private homes talking to the 
people. The M.Ps. have already closed several places for sell¬ 
ing liquor before or after the stipulated hours. All German 
people over twelve years of age have to have a pass to come 
out on the street any more. 

January 6, 1919:—At 6:15 we got up, had reveille as usual 
and I had to take the boys down to stables as Dick [Richard 
M. Bosson] is on guard. I then came down to the orderly 
room where Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff, Cpl. Henry T. Wheeler 
and I went over the list we had made up. Lieut. Knaff made 
quite a few changes and I had to do quite a bit of work on 
our old maps to straighten things out. After noon mess I sat 
around with the boys until 1:00 when they went out to a 
practice review. I happened to find a bar of Naphtha soap 
today in our room so I took it down to the baker shop with 
me. The old German woman was so pleased with it that 
nothing would do but that I sit down and drink a bottle of 
wine and eat a plate of cakes. Of course I didn’t refuse but 
I did have to be careful, for when you once sit down they 
never let you get up until you have finished the whole bottle 
of wine and in my case I would have been “a mess”. After 
the meal I went back up to the Sergeants mess room, sat 
around for a little while and then went up and went to bed. 

January 7, 1919:—At 6:15 when we got up for breakfast 
we had oatmeal and it certainly was good; we sat around 
after breakfast until about 8:00 and then everybody went to 
their rooms and started to clean up. There is to be an in¬ 
spection this morning by our General and all the fellows are 
getting rifles, pistols and equipment ready for it. I am going 
to try to get out of it. When the call blew for inspection I 
just simply didn’t go and I sat around in the Sergeants room 
all morning. At noon when the fellows came in they cer¬ 
tainly had some good stories to tell about different ones get¬ 
ting afraid during inspection. After retreat we all had to 
go to a non-coms school. I went to bed about 8:30. 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


255 


January 8, 1919:—I took the boys down to stables this 
morning and while they were feeding I got into the fourgon 
and got all of our maps and things out. After breakfast the 
boys went out on a long hike with horses, carriages, pieces 
and all, but I did not feel like going so I went out thru the 
town and got wire, sockets and an electric light bulb so I 
could put another light in our dining room. The boys came 
in about 11:45 and they were all pretty well worn out, noon 
mess was not at all bad; during the afternoon I put up the 
new light and played around most of the time. During the 
afternoon the boys stood a review in memory of our Ex- 
President Roosevelt and by the time they got back in they 
were sure tired. We had no retreat, but we did have a non- 
coms school. 

January 9, 1919:—At 7:50 this morning we all lined up as 
a battery and went over to the bath house and had a good 
bath; after the bath I immediately took my clothes to the 
wash lady. At 1:00 the whole battery went down near the 
stables where the battery divided, some of the men had gun 
drill others ‘doughboyed’ while our detail did semaphore work. 
At 2:00 the boys started to groom again; many of our horses 
have very bad cases of mange and are doctored for the same 
and they are very hard and dirty to groom. While the boys 
were grooming I got all of our old maps off the boards for 
Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff and by the time we had finished it was 
time to go in. At 4:00 we had retreat and then one half hour 
of non-coms school. After we had finished our meal at the 
baker shop the bunch of us went out and bought a pin for 
little Maria Comes; the little girl who always waits on our 
table for us. It is her birthday present and she will be very 
pleased over it I know. 

January 10, 1919:—At 6:15 we got up, stood reveille and 
they told us that only one of the sergeants would have to 
go to the stables in the morning from now on, so the rest 
of us came in, washed up and had our breakfasts earlier than 
usual. At 8:30 the whole battery went down to stables and 
the horses were taken out for exercise. Not all of the men 
were needed to take the horses out so the rest of them either 
‘doughboyed’ or had gun drill until the horses came in and 
then they watered and fed and came in to noon mess. At 
1:00 we started out for drill again, some of the boys drilled 


256 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


while others had gun drill and our detail again had sema¬ 
phore practice. Perry [W. Lesh] and I cleaned some of our 
instruments and then took them up to the Q.M. where they 
will be packed away. After retreat we all went down to the 
baker shop where we had a very fine meal; we gave Maria 
her birthday present and she brought each of us a bottle of 
beer and some cakes to show her appreciation. 

January 11, 1919:—Today being Saturday it means clean 
up for inspection so after we were dismissed from reveille we 
straightened up our bunks and mopped our floors. At 7:00 
we had our breakfasts and at 8:30 we lined up for inspection. 
Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift looked us over to see that our belts 
were clean and then we were marched over to the parade 
grounds where we were reviewed by the Colonel [Robert H. 
Tyndall]. I am on guard tonight so I got my guard together, 
instructed them and then came in after mess. I did not go 
down to the baker shop as the sergeants had a very good 
mess and I decided to eat with them; we had mashed potatoes, 
roast beef, prunes, coffee, sugar, milk, biscuits and syrup. 
The reason we are having such good food at the Sergeants 
mess is because a train load of food pulled in beside our 
stables and a few of our sergeants took a cart and backed up 
to it and got a sack of sugar, a sack of flour, two cases of milk 
and a case of syrup. 

January 12, 1919:—I got up at reveille this morning and 
immediately went over to our kitchen and got the rice for 
the Sergeants mess. We had pancakes and rice for break¬ 
fast. Perry Lesh was sent to the hospital with a slight touch 
of the flu today. I then went to our kitchen where I drew 
the rest of the food for both dinner and supper. Out of that 
food I stole some sugar, milk and meat and [Leslie H.] Cole¬ 
man took it down to the baker shop for our meal tonight. I 
sat around and wrote letters until noon mess time, and we 
had such a good mess of roast beef, mashed potatoes, pickled 
plums, coffee, sugar, milk, bread, corn-meal pudding and cake 
that I could hardly move after I had finished eating. I 
reached the baker shop a little early tonight so I sat around 
with Jacob and old Herr Comes drinking wine and eating 
cakes. 

January 13, 1919:—After getting up at 6:15 this morning 
we went thru the regular program and 8:45 found us down 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


257 


at the stables grooming and getting ready to go out on one 
of the short hikes. Horses were watered and harnessed and 
we started off about 9:30. We went thru Johannasburg and 
a little ways to the right across the Ahr river and then back 
toward the stables again. We were very much surprised on 
our way home to hear a great many guns firing, but I sup¬ 
pose some outfit was doing some practicing. We could see 
the bursts of some of the shells on the hills not far from us 
and they do look fine when they make the dirt fly. At 1:30 
we lined up again and marched in review in front of the 
Colonel; from there we went back down to stables where we 
groomed, watered and fed. We then came in and stood re¬ 
treat, had a short non-coms school, and then we went down 
to the baker shop. I took Jacob a box of Natural cigarettes 
and they immediately sat me down to wine and cakes. I’ll 
have the combination before long. Soap, bones for soup, 
cigarettes and tobacco for the boys and old man, candy for 
Maria and a few other things is always sure to bring wine 
and cakes. 

January 14, 1919:—At 8:30 this morning we went down 
to stables where we groomed for awhile and then harnessed 
up and went out on a short road hike returning about 11:00. 
While on the road we had to stop with the fourgon as our 
horses have so much ‘pep’ that they kick all the time. We 
took the lead team off and made the wheel team pull the four¬ 
gon all the way back. At 1:15 we lined up and had another 
review, I now have to act as left guide of the battery. After 
the review the regiment was marched over across the Ahr 
and in a big opening along the banks of the Ahr river they 
had their pictures taken. From there we marched down to 
stables where we groomed until 3:15, watered, fed and then 
watched a very good horse fight between ‘Pop’ [Sgt. Cecil L.] 
York’s stallion and one of the team stallions. Pop York’s 
horse fought for a little but he soon turned and ran with 
the team stallion pulling mouthfuls of hair out as they went 
up the railroad track. [Bryant W.] Gillespie and I had noth¬ 
ing to do after the meal tonight so we went over to their very 
elaborate Kurhaus lobby and sat down to listen to some of 
their music. After hearing a few selections we left and went 
over to a barber shop where I got a massage, the first one I 
have had since I have been in this country. 

17—22902 


258 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


January 15, 1919:—At 6:15 we got up and went through 
the regular routine. At 8:30 we went down to stables where 
we groomed a little and then harnessed our horses. We took 
about a ten kilometer hike and got back in time to only water 
and feed and get to the battery for noon mess. At 1:00 P.M. 
we again went down to stables where we detail men had a 
little long distance semaphore work while the other boys had 
gun drill and ‘doughboy' work. After the meal the bunch of 
us went over to the Kurhaus lobby where we sat around talk¬ 
ing and smoking for quite a while. We also had a good dish 
of grape ice and then went over to the Kurhaus theatre where 
we heard some very good singing. A baritone and a tenor 
did the singing and they were really better than I have heard 
for a long while. 

January 16, 1919:—At 6:15 as usual we started our day 
and after putting the customary cleaning on our room I went 
down to a good breakfast of rice and bacon. Marks took the 
predicted drop this morning and are now only 120 marks for 
100 francs. Arriving at the hotel I found out that I would 
have to make a complete new billeting list for some one of 
the officers, so I immediately got to work. This work took 
me until about 10:00 and by that time the whole battery was 
back. They immediately lined up and marched over to the 
parade grounds where they again had their pictures taken. 
During the afternoon Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift asked me to 
put a light in the orderly room, making three in there for 
them. I did, and I made it take me all afternoon so that I 
would not have to go out any more. 

January 17, 1919:—At 6:15 we got up and I took a detail 
of drivers down to feed the horses. When I came back I sat 
down to a breakfast of pan-cakes, syrup and bacon. I then 
went down to the Sergeants mess room where I made four 
signs for the four pieces; went down to the stables where I 
saddled up my horse and started up to the position on the 
Rhine. All the rest of the Sergeants went up near the Rhine 
to a big manoeuver put on by the One Hundred Sixty-seventh 
Brigade and several other outfits. Stokes mortars, rifles, ma¬ 
chine guns, hand grenades, 75s, 155s and all of the Infantry 
took part in it. One man was killed and about fifteen were 
wounded because they used all live ammunition. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


259 


January 18, 1919:—When breakfast was over this a.m. we 
all went back up to our rooms where we swept and mopped 
the floors, laid out our bunks in a uniform manner and got 
ready for the inspection. I cleaned my pistol and then sat 
down to wait for the time. At 9:00 they came around and 
looked the billets over and for the second time the detail has 
had the best looking place. A field bakery has moved in the 
buildings of the Appollinaris Brunnen and this morning they 
started to bake doughnuts and bread, and say, it certainly 
did smell good! We had a fine meal of hamburger, salad, po¬ 
tatoes, coffee, sugar, milk, bread, syrup and cakes. After 
mess our bunch went over to the battery mess hall where they 
are holding a mock trial over [Leo A.] Biddle and [Edgar] 
Cyrus for being too “cocky” and from what I can hear they 
certainly did a plenty to them. 

January 19, 1919:—It being Sunday we did not get up until 
7:15 and after reveille we all came back to our rooms. We 
had rice, pan-cakes, coffee, sugar, milk and bread for break¬ 
fast and nothing to do until 10:00 a.m. After a good noon 
meal I sat down to answer letters that I had received and 
I wrote until 3:00 when we again went down to stables. 
About 8:00 I came back to the hotel and wrote some more 
letters. I now have eleven of them to start on their way 
home. The Germans are having an election today and both 
women and men are voting. 

January 20, 1919:—There are many Canadians and Eng¬ 
lish soldiers in this town today. They have come here to wit¬ 
ness some boxing matches between the Americans and Eng¬ 
lish at the Kurhaus hotel. All of the American out-fits are 
entertaining these men who are down here today and we had 
four of them in our Sergeants mess today. There is much 
“snow” floating around about our going home, and the fact 
is, some of the Divisions are already starting, so they tell us. 
Mail is coming in very much better now; but the battery mess 
is going down and the boys are yelling because they are get¬ 
ting nothing but rice and hamburger anymore. However all 
the boys are feeling better and we still get our mineral baths 
whenever we want them. At 4:00 we lined up for retreat and 
Major Sidney S. Miller gave us a farewell talk as he is leav¬ 
ing for the Fifth Division tomorrow; having been railroaded 


260 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


out by a d- regular army Major. After mess I took a 

walk over to the Kurhaus cigar store where I got the re¬ 
sults of the bouts between the English and Americans. The 
Americans won the three big wrestling matches; the boxing 
contests between the Canadians and Americans are now going 
on. 

January 21, 1919:—Being on guard I would not have had 
to get up at reveille but I had to get the food for the Sergeants 
mess so I got up with the rest of the boys. After I had fin¬ 
ished breakfast I took sick call down to the infirmary and 
then went up to the kitchen and got food for the noon meal. 
From the kitchen I stole some cinnamon, flour, sugar, pepper, 
milk, salt and a piece of meat and took it down to the baker 
shop. At noon we had a very good meal of steak, potatoes, 
salad, coffee, sugar, milk and a few other things. We went 
up to a non-coms school before we ate but it lasted only about 
five minutes and then Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift and I talked 
over the prospects of a football team out of the battery. 
Some of the boys had a good trip today. Passes were issued 
and most of the fellows went up to Bonn. 

January 22, 1919:—I took a trip through every hotel in the 
town this a.m. where Americans are quartered trying to find 
a pair of glasses that had been stolen from our machine gun¬ 
ners ; I did not find them. When the review was done all the 
men wishing to try out for the foot-ball team reported and we 
certainly had a good turn out. We went down to the big field 
along the Ahr River and spent the time limbering up until 
4:10 and then went back to the Q.M. room where we had a 
short non-coms school. I then went down to the baker shop 
where we had a very good meal. With the flour that I had 
brought the woman we wanted coffee cakes made, but there 
was something she needed to make it and for the life of me 
I could not figure out what it was when she tried to tell me. 
I brought her everything that we ever had in our kitchen but 
none of it would do, so she finally told me she would make it 
out of her own stuff. I later found out that it was yeast that 
she needed. She did make us the biggest plate of coffee cake 
I have seen outside of a baker shop at home and believe me 
the fellows certainly did their best to it. New “snow”, but 
the same old stuff comes in from many different sources that 
we start home between the 5th and 10th of next month. 



A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


261 


January 23, 1919:—I took charge of the feed detail this 
a.m. and after all the horses were fed and Lieut. [Aloys] 
Knaff had given us a little talk we went in after our noon 
meal. At 1:00 P.M. we lined up and were again reviewed by 
the Colonel [Robert H. Tyndall] and then the men were 
marched off the parade grounds, and the football men were 
called out. We then went down to the field where we had 
some signal practice and also a little practice in kicking and 
passing the ball. ‘Pete’ [Clarence E.] Clift got his nose 
broken this afternoon when he was trying to catch a ball and 
turned into an iron post. He is going to the hospital to¬ 
morrow and get it fixed up. At the baker shop this evening 
I found out that I am only about 80 kilometers from Landau 
and Neu Stadt and Gimmeldingen where Grandmother and 
Grandfather Straub came from. One of these Comes boys 
was in a hospital there while wounded. 

January 24, 1919:—At 8:30 we went down to the stables 
where the boys groomed about an hour and then they put us 
to washing harness. Anything during this cold weather to 
make it miserable! The boys had to build fires and heat 
water to keep from freezing their hands. At 1:30 we lined 
up and the Colonel had us march again in review. From 
there the foot-ball men went down to the stables and washed 
the pieces and policed the gun park. After we had finished 
our work down there we marched up to the foot-ball grounds 
and started practice. We practiced until 4:30 and the boys 
are beginning to show some mighty good form now. They 
have all drawn extra shoes and have had them cleated. 

January 25, 1919:—We lined up for inspection this morning 
at 10:30. After it was over I went with Perry and ‘Pete' 
down to an old junk dealers and they bought a small stove 
to put up in their room. We then came back to the hotel and 
from there I had to go over to the Villa Edne along the Ahr 
River to see a Lieutenant about some new athletic material. 
We got two socker foot-balls and two indoor base-balls. From 
there we went down to the football field where the fellows 
had assembled and started practice. We kicked the ball about 
an hour and then had fifteen minutes of scrimmage. The 
ground is very hard and many of the boys got skinned up a 
little. After the practice was over we all went over across 
the river where we watched D and B Batteries put on a prac- 


262 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


tice game; D Battery won. On the way back to the battery 
we all stopped at the butcher shop on Middle Strasse and 
had a dish of ice cream, all of the butcher shops have now 
turned into ice cream parlors as they can handle meat only 
on Saturday anyway. I filled out a blank today applying for 
a Second Lieutenancy. Everybody was doing it. I then went 
down to our baker shop where I had a very good meal and 
after the meal I went over to the Kur Theatre where I saw 
a very good show put on by the Canadians. They had some 
good piano players, very good costumes and a good bunch of 
old jokes. 

January 26, 1919:—We had nothing to do all morning until 
10:30 when we lined up for a stable formation. I went over 
to the infirmary where I took an examination for a commis¬ 
sion. We had no retreat today so I went down to the baker 
shop and wrote some letters until the rest of the boys came 
down and the meal was ready. When we got back to the bat¬ 
tery I went on up to Perry’s room and there I found Mutt 
[Lloyd] Rust, and many of the other fellows sitting around 
and when I had them all looked over who should I see but 
old Karl Vitz who had been transferred to our regimental 
band from some other regiment. They came from the Thirty- 
eighth Division I found out later on, and will be with us until 
we get home. 

January 27, 1919:—At reveille this morning many men 
were chosen to go to the Motor school here in Neuenahr just 
for the day. Seventy other men went to Coblenz for the day, 
on pass. At 1:00 we again lined up, took two footballs, two 
socker balls and two indoor base balls and went down on the 
field near the Ahr where we played until 2:30. We then 
marched directly down to stables where we groomed, watered 
and fed and then came on in. We stood a regimental re¬ 
treat and then I went on guard. 

January 28, 1919: — After breakfast this a.m. I took sick 
call down to the infirmary and while I was there I had the 
doctor look at my right little finger which I hurt the other 
day while playing football. I was very much surprised when 
he told me that it was badly broken but all he did was to 
put some iodine on it. I did not get back from sick call until 
about 9:30 and then I immediately went up to the kitchen 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


263 


where I drew food for the rest of the day. I then sat down 
in the Sergeants room and wrote letters until noon mess time 
when we had a very good meal of hamburger and mashed 
potatoes for the meal. At 1:00 [James A.] Miles, [Eugene 
L.] Coridan and I went up to Regimental Headquarters where 
we reported for the divisional football team. We then came 
in and I went over to Lieut. [Charles D.] Clift’s room and 
he gave me a bunch of padding for tomorrow’s game with B 
Battery. After I had taken a good wash and shave I went 
to a non-coms school which lasted only about fifteen minutes 
and then I went down to the baker shop. At 7:00 the foot¬ 
ball team met in the orderly room and we talked over the 
game for tomorrow, after everyone knew just what he was 
supposed to do we were dismissed. 

January 29, 1919. After breakfast this morning we 
groomed for only a few minutes and then the whole battery 
started out for a road hike. Roads were so slippery though 
that the order was changed and the whole battery came back 
to the gun park. Some few of us however saddled up and 
rode to the top of a big hill not far distant and from there 
we did some semaphore work with some of the men at the 
battery. We had the aiming circle along and we figured out 
firing data and sent it down to the battery and they laid their 
guns accordingly. At 11:00 we came in and had our mess. 
I then got myself ready for the football game. At 1:00 we 
went down to the school house yard where we ran through 
some signals; at 1:30 we went over across the river to the 
regular football field and at 1:45 the game between A and 
B Batteries started. We played a very hard game, always in 
our favor. We only kicked the ball once and that was on the 
kick-off. The field was frozen very hard and there was a 
light skift of snow over it so it made playing very hard. 
Lieut. Riker played right half, ‘Jim’ [James A.] Miles played 
left half and I played full. Tommy [Thomas J.] Welsh 
played one end and [Ernest W.] Schmidt played the other, 
and they certainly were good. I got away with a forward 
pass of theirs but slipped and could do nothing, but got into 
a slugging match in the last quarter and got put out of the 
game. Perry played one of the prettiest games at quarter 
I have ever seen played. The final score was 0 to 0 and the 
whole battery was out to see the game. After the game our 


264 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


team went over to the bath house and had as much time as 
we pleased in the bath. We then went over to the Q.M. room 
and had a lecture on motors by ‘Pop’ [Harold K.] Roberts. 
After we had had our baker-shop meal some of us went over 
to the Kurhaus Theatre and saw the Hoosier Follies put on 
by the One Hundred Fiftieth Band and it was very good. 

January 30, 1919:—I went to the motor school this morn¬ 
ing. Shortly after 11:00 the battery had some gun drill and 
the motor school went over to a lecture. I did not go be¬ 
cause my leg has developed a real ‘Charley Horse’ and I can 
hardly walk. We received official notice today that we would 
be the first National Guard division to sail. At 1:00 P.M. 
the battery lined up and went down to the school yard where 
they played for awhile. We stayed out until 3:00 and then 
came in to the battery. 

January 31, 1919:—Today was about as usual. During the 
forenoon and afternoon we spent the time grooming the 
horses and washing the harness. About 4:15 we stood re¬ 
treat, ate mess and then went to a non-coms school. A good 
many of the men around here have very bad colds and some 
of them have the ‘flu’. The regiment is getting more motor 
equipment every day and next week they start issuing it to 
the batteries. 

February 1, 1919:—At 9:00 we went out and stood the in¬ 
spection, and believe me it is certainly cold standing still very 
long at one time. After the inspection we went down to the 
stables where we worked until noon. After we had eaten 
noon mess all of the football men went down to the school 
yard where we started to practice on some new plays. We 
practiced until 3:00 and then came on in. After retreat we 
had an inspection of gas masks. All of these foolish things 
are coming now, insurance talk is heavy, going home ‘snow’ 
is thick and the boys always come in with some sort of a new 
report. [Latham W.] Connell is sick in bed, in fact about 
twenty-five per cent, of every battery are marked ‘quarters’ 
with bad colds. 

February 2, 1919:—For breakfast in the Sergeants mess 
we had rice, pan-cakes, coffee, sugar, bread and milk. Fred 
Turner who had been sent to the hospital with gas from Exer- 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


265 


mont came back today and he has a lot of ‘snow’ about our 
going home in March. He also saw Sgt. Skidmore’s grave. 1 
After we came back from stables we stood retreat and di¬ 
rectly after retreat we were held in formation while a German 
civilian went through our ranks trying to identify the man 
who stole a diamond from his jewelry store. He did not find 
the man who did it. I happen to know who it was but of 
course he will never find out. After that Lieut. [Aloys] 
Knaff read us several general orders and then we were dis¬ 
missed. An order is down to the regiment for passes and we 
find out that two men out of the battery can go some place 
in divisional area each day. 

February 3, 1919:—We got up at the usual reveille call, 
stood the formation and then cleaned up the room before go¬ 
ing down to breakfast. We had rice and hamburger for 
breakfast and at 7:55 drill call blew. Many of our men in¬ 
cluding myself went over to a motor school which we made 
last until noon. At these Motor schools no one knows who’s 
the real head or who is trying to run the thing, so the fellows 
do just about as they please and do not get much out of it. 
The weather is still pretty cold and the days are always dark 
and gray but very pleasant nevertheless. Instead of a formal 
retreat we had a parade in front of the Colonel and then we 
all came back after our evening meal. Lieut. Knaff then 
called some of the Sergeants into the orderly room where he 
told us all about a new gun position we are going to take up. 
After that I went down to the baker shop where I sat down 
and ate another meal. When we had finished [Howard H.] 
Maxwell, [Leslie H.] Coleman and I went over to “Hand 
Grenade Anns” where we got our wash and sat around and 
talked for awhile. 

February 4, 1919:—This morning we did nothing except 
to get ready for the afternoon’s problem. At 12:30 all the 
old men of the battery lined up and went down to stables 
where they harnessed and hitched. Dick [Richard M. Bos- 
son] and I had located the position during the morning. 
Perry [W. Lesh] and I went on ahead of the battery so that we 
could locate each piece as it came into position. We finally 
arrived at the position and as the pieces came Perry showed 
them where to come, and I put them into their correct places 


1. See p. 14. 


266 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


and the gun squads then had some gun drill. The weather 
is still very cool and many of the boys have the ‘flu’; they are 
putting out some very strict rules of sanitation so that they 
can prevent its spreading. We are also having a regimental 
guard now. Horses have all been clipped for the mange. 
There is snow on the ground now and all the little German 
boys are doing some ice skating and sleighing. 

February 5, 1919:—After breakfast this morning the bat¬ 
tery lined up and went to the stables where they took the 
horses out bareback. I took sick call over to the infirmary 
and did not get away from there until nearly 9:30, from there 
I went up and got the food for the noon mess and again we 
had bacon, gravy, with a few mashed potatoes. Motor 
schools are still going on, ‘snow’ is still good, very little mail 
and the weather always remains about the same. 

February 6, 1919:—This morning [Bryant W.] Gillespie 
and I spent a good part of our time taking pictures with his 
camera. After a good dinner at 1:00 about twenty of we 
fellows went out into a big woods near our stables and started 
to chase rabbits. In all we saw twenty-two and I made a 
dive after one and caught him; when I went to pick him up 
I noticed that he was caught in a trap. He made a good 
feed anyway. Out of all the rabbits we saw, about half of 
them were jack-rabbits and really looked like mules. I 
cleaned the one that I had and [Leslie H.] Coleman took it 
down to the baker shop to have it fixed for our meal. After 
retreat we went again down to the baker shop and had a very 
good meal of ham, potatoes, etc. and then all of us came back 
to a non-coms school. We have a new S.O.S. Lieut. Colonel 
and he is on the war path about guard duty, so it makes it 
hard for all of us. 

February 7, 1919:—I took a few pictures while the sun 
was out today and I am getting quite a collection now. We 
came in to a good noon mess, but at 1:00 we again went down 
to stables where a few of the men washed carriages while 
the rest clipped horses. I took a funny notion and clipped my 
horse all by myself and it certainly was a job. After retreat 
we sat down to a good meal and then we had non-coms school. 

February 8, 1919:—After breakfast this morning all the 
drivers were sent to the stables and from there they took the 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


267 


horses to Ahrweiler to be dipped for the mange. C Battery 
sent their horses the other day and before they got back their 
horses were nearly frozen stiff. It is far below zero today 
and our horses will certainly be frozen before they get back 
I’m sure. The Ahr river which is a swift river is all frozen 
over and all the Germans are skating. Sgt. [Cleston G.] 
Berry and Sgt. [Wilbur B.] Morgan are now eating with us; 
old Norvin E. Green is still furnishing all of the ‘snow’ for 
the boys and in spite of the cold weather the boys are pretty 
well satisfied. Yesterday Sgt. [Cecil L.] York went out with 
two of the escort wagons on a divisional manoeuver and he 
about froze before he got back. ‘Snow’ came in here last 
night that we will absolutely be out of here by the 20th and 
that we will go down the Rhine and get the boat at the mouth 
of the Rhine. Many of the boys are still going to Motor 
school but they are getting a little tired now. The new Lieut. 
Colonel now has an order out that no two men can walk to¬ 
gether on the side walk. They must either be single file or 
in the street. One of our new boys died today from the ‘flu’ 
the doctors say but the boys all say that it was from the lack 
of attention. Perry [W. Lesh] is on regimental guard to¬ 
night. 

February 9, 1919:—Well last night they had a real party 
and just about all of the fellows were ‘gone’. Bud [Wilbur B.] 
Morgan stayed until I left and then he came up and went to 
bed with me. We had nothing to do until 9:30 this A.M. and 
then we lined up and went down to stables where we groomed 
a little and then watered and fed and came on in to the bat¬ 
tery. When we got in we were lined up and paid, and at 
11:30 we sat down to our noon meal. We prepared to lie 
around until the afternoon formation and take things easy 
but at 12:00 they chased us out and we had to march a 
parade in the honor of Roosevelt. From the parade we were 
marched over to the Kurhaus theatre where Chaplain Nash 
gave us a talk on the life of Roosevelt. 

February 10, 1919:—We had a hard time this morning 
getting water to wash with, as nearly all of the water pipes 
were frozen up. Last night “Spick” [John C.] Ellis got a 
little more than he could hold and he cleaned up on some bat¬ 
tery’s kitchen and when they went to arrest him he started 
in right. He told everybody from lieutenants on up to the 


268 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Lieut. Colonel what he thought of them and of course he was 
put in the jug. After the mess [Norvin E.] Green and I got 
out our roulette wheel and started to play. Green and I 
banked the board and we played the game wrong and finally 
the bank went broke. I lost about 125 francs and Green lost 
about 55, so we both went to bed. 

February 11, 1919:—At 8:00 the battery lined up, some of 
the boys went to Motor school while the rest of them went 
down to the stables. The boys did not stay at stables long 
but went out on equitation. Today the batteries were 
issued a few tractors and a few trucks. Tonight at the 
retreat formation an order was read stating that any 
man who wished to attend a French or a British University 
could put in his application. The requirements were at least 
two years in an American University and numerous other 
things that I have forgotten. [William H.] Bruning, [Bryant 
W.] Gillespie and I looked up the dope on it but we decided 
that there was to be too much militarism connected with it 
so we are not going in for it. 

February 12, 1919:—At 8:30 this morning Dick [Richard 
M. Bosson] and I went with Lieut. [Aloys] Knaff, Major Tay¬ 
lor and several others and located a new gun position. We 
went out in one of the new big “white” touring cars. It was 
pretty cold riding early in the morning but later the sun came 
out and warmed things up fine. At 11:50 we lined up with gas 
masks, helmets and side arms and went down to the stables 
and saddled up. Perry, ‘Pete’ [Clarence E. Clift] and I went 
out to the position early and marked the place for the four 
pieces. Just after we had finished staking out the “Y” line 
the pieces came and we showed them into place and by 1:15 
we were ready to fire. They started assimilated fire at 2:00, 
did some direct firing later on and at 4:00 we started back. 
After I came back we all got to talking over the school prop¬ 
osition and Bruning, Gillespie, [Wilbur B.] Morgan and I put 
in our applications for Cambridge University. If our appli¬ 
cations go through we stay in school until June 30th. Oh boy! 

February 13, 1919:—The number of men usually on sick call 
has now dropped down to six this morning, so I suppose the 
boys are getting to feel better. When I got back I played 
solitaire for awhile, wrote some letters and then helped the 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


269 


German girl to clean up the room. The fellows now have one 
of the boys from the battery who they pay to bring up the 
mess so the Sergeants do not have to run up to the kitchen 
any more. We had no non-coms school this evening, so when 
the meal was all over [Norvin E.] Green and I got the roulette 
wheel out again and started to play. At first we went good 
but it was not long before we went down the line again and 
we had to stop. We broke just about even. 

February 14, 1919:—After traveling the regular morning 
route I came down and had a breakfast of pan-cakes and rice 
which was not at all bad. At 8:00 stables blew and after we 
had watered the horses and tied them on the day line our work 
really began. Every section put up racks for the harness, 
built fires and heated water and tore all of the harness com¬ 
pletely down and gave it a good washing. We now have a 
new First Lieutenant and he sure is a card, he tries to make 
the boys snap into it and gets all tangled up and then the 
fellows give him the laugh. We worked hard on the harness 
all afternoon. The pieces and carriages were also washed 
and oiled and now Jim [James A.] Miles is painting the reg¬ 
imental insignia on every piece of materiel. We had no non- 
coms school so I went over to the baker shop, talked to old 
man Comes a little while. Some of the boys went over to 
the Kurhaus to see a show but could not get a seat as nearly 
all of them were reserved for officers and nurses. Lieut. 
Knaff told the Sergeants tonight that there was going to be 
an officer down from general headquarters to inspect our 
paper work and that we had priority over any other division 
and that we were going home “Toot-Sweet”. 

February 15, 1919:—This day starts the beginning of the 
fourth book of my diary and I certainly hope that I will not 
have to start another one. At reveille this morning the day’s 
work was outlined to the fellows and things started off in 
regular style. A detail of men as usual were sent down to 
the stables to feed the horses and the rest of the fellows were 
sent to their rooms to clean up for the day. The detail then 
went to work cleaning up a little more while all of the rest 
of the men got to work on their tractors and trucks. At 2:80 
all of the men started on the horses, groomed them, watered 
and fed them and then came on in to the hotel. 


270 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


February 16, 1919:—The German boy here at the Rhein- 
gold Hotel, by the name of Franz Steinborn who wrote the 
letter to Gimmeldingen for me received an answer from them 
today. I gave him several pictures, one of Grandmother 
Straub, one of Aunt Elizabeth Borst and one of Dad [Frank 
Straub] and Mother [Emma Straub] and he sent them back 
to Grandmother’s people for me. The review that our going 
home depends on has been postponed for at least two weeks 
so I suppose we are here from now on. 

February 17, 1919—The men on motors were sent over to 
the motor school this a.m. and the rest of the men went down 
to stables. There we watered, groomed about thirty minutes 
on a horse and then bridled up a single mount and the drivers 
took a horse to lead and we went out for a little exercise. At 
1:00 we lined up and went down to the play grounds where 
some of the boys played basketball, some of them indoor base¬ 
ball and the rest of us played football. At 4:45 we had retreat 
and after retreat we sat down to our evening meal. From the 
baker shop we went over to the Y.M.C.A. which is now the 
Y for the new leave center which is in this town. There they 
have billiard tables, smoking rooms, and all the comforts one 
could wish for including a big dining room. In the Y.M. 
some Germans were playing some good band music which we 
listened to for a while and finally came back to the hotel where 
we arrived about 9:00 P.M. Lieut. Knaff had been up to the 
G.H.Q. where he had gotten the official dope that we were to 
leave for home in three weeks. New motor equipment is 
coming in every day and the going home “snow” is thicker 
than ever. 

February 18, 1919:—They always have physical exercises 
the first thing in the morning but I did not attend this morn¬ 
ing as I was not feeling quite right. We then led out to the 
day line and started grooming. At 9:30 Lieut. [ Charles D.] 
Clift took us out on another bare-back hike. Sgt. [George M.] 
Tesher had a saddle on his horse but I did not so we tried a 
little racing, and in three long stretches I beat him each time. 
We would hang way back of the battery and then race up to 
them. We got in to the stables about 11:20, watered and fed 
and then came in to dinner. We have now seven tractors and 
five trucks and are getting more all the time. The short poles 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


271 


(tongues) are now on the pieces and the horses are to be 
turned in within the next three days. Bad Neuenahr is now 
the big leave center for troops outside of here and another big 
Y.M.C.A. has been established along with a new big restau¬ 
rant. Shows are on at the Kurhaus every night and the town 
is full of Y.W.C.A. women and nurses. The weather has I 
believe, broken because it is as warm as spring time now. 
Coleman and I went over to the Y.M.C.A. after mess where we 
listened to some good music and singing and then we played 
three games of billiards. 

February 19, 1919:—Lieut. Knaff now has a big white 
touring car. At 1:00 p.m. the battery went down to the big 
open field near the stables where we played indoor baseball 
for a while and at 2:45 we lined up and went to stables where 
we tied on the day line and groomed for a little while. Boxes 
are now being made in every outfit to pack things in and 
everyone is getting ready to go home. 

February 20, 1919:—Some of the boys went over to the 
motor school and the rest of us went down to stables where 
we tied on the day line and started to groom. A few of the 
boys also went on pass to Coblenz. After mess we sat around 
until 1:00 and then went down to the field by the stables and 
played ball until about 3:15 when a short grooming session was 
held, horses all inoculated for glanders, tied in the barn and 
fed. After standing the retreat I immediately posted and 
instructed my guard, ate my evening meal and then went to 
a non-coms school. There we started to organize a battery 
club. Five of us were elected on a committee to draw up a 
rough constitution and report at the next meeting. 

February 21, 1919:—At the usual time after breakfast I 
took sick call over and did not get back until about 8:30, and 
I immediately went to sleep and stayed there until noon. The 
battery groomed horses and cleaned caissons all morning. 
After the noon mess [Bryant W.] Gillespie and I started on 
a publicity letter for the Battery A Club. We worked on it 
until about 4:00 and then I went up to my room and cleaned 
up a bit. We received a little mail during the afternoon and I 
‘rated’ three letters out of the deal. 

February 22, 1919:—The boys came in early from the 


272 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


stables this morning. Byb [Byron C. Young] and 
the boys had a very nice party last night and when 
we came in to breakfast this morning we saw three big 
Chinese vases and a new chair in the room. They were all 
afraid that someone would be looking for them, and they have 
been figuring all day how to get rid of them. They are very 
big ones and the boys all say they are good ones. After eve¬ 
ning mess “Byb” and the rest of the fellows took the vases out 
somewhere in three big burlap sacks, but what they did with 
them I do not know. We saw them coming back out of the 
back yard of the Palace Hotel. 

February 28,1919:—Tony [Chester] Lumpkin, [Charles F.] 
Arensman and ‘Pug’ [Rogers H.] George went on leave today. 
They went some place way back in France. I suppose they 
will all hit for Paris. Several of the other fellows went on 
a one day pass to Coblenz. I wrote a few letters this P.M. and 
then got ready for retreat. After retreat we had our evening 
meal and then [Bryant W.] Gillespie and I went over to the 
Kaiserhof and played a little billiards. At 7:00 we went up to 
the Rheinnercherhof to a meeting of the battery in regard to 
the club. The turnout was very poor but we started never¬ 
theless. 

February 24, 1919:—The regular morning procedure took 
place this morning. At 8:00 the whole battery went down 
to the stables and the horses were groomed a little, tied on 
the day line, covered with a horse blanket and a nose bag tied 
around the neck of each one. At 9:00 we led the horses over to 
the parade grounds where the One Hundred and Forty-ninth 
and One Hundred and Fifty-first took over all of our horses 
except the condemned ones. We now have only twenty-nine 
left. The fellows are so happy they don’t know what to do. 
After that formation which was one of the most pleasant I 
have attended during my time in the army we had an hour of 
‘doughboy’ drill and then came in to dinner. We then pulled 
the materiel out into better parking space and then came in 
to the hotel. 

February 25, 1919:—This morning I took a walk over to the 
Mineral Springs with several of the fellows and got a big 
drink of water. “Willibrodues” and the Grosse Sprudel are 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


273 


the largest springs here. At 8:00 we lined up and went down 
to the old stables where we paired off in sections and talked 
over different points in gun drill. A little later we had a 
little gun drill, then an hour of ‘doughboy’ drill and then we 
came in to the noon meal. Motors are always taken care of 
by their respective drivers. After noon mess at 1:00 the 
whole battery lined up and went out for an hour of athletics. 
After retreat and the evening meal the four of us again went 
over the Kaiserhof and played billiards until 7:00 when we 
went to another meeting of the battery regarding the battery 
club. I was elected temporary chairman and [Myron C.] 
Ayres temporary secretary. 

February 26, 1919:—After having breakfast this morning 
I went over to Lieut. Knaff’s quarters, got the plotting board 
then came back and got the aiming circle and lined up with 
the battery at 8:00. We went down to the gun park where 
the tractors hooked on to the pieces and the battery pulled out. 
Cannoniers rode on the trucks and we went out about fifteen 
kilometers into the country where we went into position. The 
battery had assimilated fire for about two hours and then we 
came back in. I will say that the battery got along very well, 
it being their first time out as a motorized battery. All of our 
blankets were sent to be cleaned today and all blankets in 
excess of three had to be turned in. After retreat we had an 
inspection of arms and clothes and then came back to the 
hotel for mess. I received another letter from Gimmeldingen 
today and I am saving them to take home to Grandmother. 

February 27, 1919:—We had the biggest breakfast of pan¬ 
cakes this morning I have ever seen at one time before, and 
believe me the boys certainly made short work of them. About 
1:00 we went to a non-coms school and at 1 :S0 athletic call 
blew but I did not feel like going so I sat down and wrote 
letters until 3:30 when I marched our regiment guard men 
over to the parade grounds and then I came back to the bat¬ 
tery. At retreat we had an inspection and then we went 
after our food. Many of the boys are going on pass now and 
conditions in the battery and even in the regiment are very 
much better than they have been. I went on battery guard at 
6:00, got it to running well and then [Paul W.] Mullikin and I 
spent the evening playing solitaire. 


18—22902 



274 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


February 28, 1919:—After breakfast this morning I took 
the sick call over to the infirmary. I then went over to the 
M.P. headquarters to get permission from them to hold our 
club meetings in the Rheinnercherhof cafe. We had a good 
noon mess and after dinner I played solitaire and wrote more 
letters. The boys had just gotten through cleaning up when 
the order came down that we would fire tomorrow, so now the 
men are going down to load ammunition. During the evening 
we drank some wine, played some solitaire and had some 
ukulele music on an instrument that Kenneth Simms brought 
along from the States with him. 

March 1, 1919: — It was dark when first call blew this A.M. 
but by the time we had lined up it was getting pretty light. 
My detail and Dick’s [Richard W. Bosson] detail took aiming 
circle, scissors, phones and wire and went down to the gun 
park where the trucks full of ammunition and cannoniers 
were; the pieces pulled by tractors and our machine with our 
junk pulled out. We went to the range just outside of Riegen 
and by the time the pieces had fired five rounds each they were 
in the mud up to their axles. We finished up about 12:00, the 
tractors had no trouble pulling the pieces out and we came in 
and had noon mess. The boys were then allowed to sleep until 
about 4:00. 

March 2, 1919:—Time was turned up one hour at midnight 
last night so when we got up this morning it was still dark. 
After breakfast I sat down and watched the rest of the Battery 
Sergeants make up a baseball team to beat the detail. The game 
started at 10 o’clock; the detail had the battery team beaten 
up to the eighth inning and then we blew up and lost the 
game. All the officers played with the battery team and we 
sure had a lot of fun. After the game I played a little pass 
with a few of the fellows and then came in to the hotel. Just 
as I was entering the hotel [Henry T.] Wheeler came out and 
told me that the order had come down that [William H.] 
Bruning and I were to go to some British University. Im¬ 
mediately after mess Bruning and I started to turn in junk 
to the Q.M. and then we went up to the Regimental head¬ 
quarters to try to get some dope on the proposition, but there 
was none to be had. We then walked around town for a few 
minutes and then came back to the hotel where we found out 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


275 


that we were to start at 8:00 in the morning for Winchester, 
England. Nothing unusual happened during the afternoon. 
We stood no retreat but at mess time I went down to say 
goodby to the Comes family and eat my last meal with Perry 
and the boys. During the rest of the evening I fixed my junk, 
prepared to leave in the morning and went to bed early. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


In England. 

March 3, 1919:—Bill [Sgt. William H. Bruning] and I got 
up directly after reveille and started to get ready to leave. We 
ate breakfast about a quarter-to-eight with the fellows and 
then after saying good-bye to everyone we started toward the 
station where we are to meet the rest of the men from here 
who are going on this one long chance with us. Although we 
were having a good time at the battery it is always one’s wish 
to be moving and doing something new so that is why we put 
in for this school proposition. The fact is that we have signed 
our names to a hundred things trying to get something out of 
the army worth while and never before have we had any luck. 
Many of the men stated that they would not even take this 
chance as one can never tell just what one is getting into, but 
Bill and I are going to try this thing just once. We have our 
hopes built on this one thing so here we go. We got over to the 
station in plenty of time for the train but missed it on ac¬ 
count of baggage. There at the station we got our commu¬ 
tation of rations which amounted to twenty francs, and that 
was all I had to my name. We then piled on trucks and 
started to drive to Remagen about ten kilometers up the Ahr 
River on the Rhine. Bill and I each had six bacon sandwiches 
along with us because when one is away from one’s outfit one 
can never tell just where he is going to get his next meal. 
We left Remagen at 10:30 a.m. by train and went through 
Bonn at 11:30 and Bruhl at 12:12. We went through a great 
portion of the territory that Is occupied by the English and 
in many places we could see their guns parked in advantageous 
places along the railroads. We arrived in Cologne about 1:00 
P.M. and tried hard to make the 1 :20 train for Brussels but 
our baggage held us up and we missed the train. Then we all 
got together and talked the thing over; there was but one 
thing to do and that was to catch the 3:30 train out for Her- 
besthal. We had a few hours’ time before that train so we 
all left our baggage on track five and went out to see the town. 
There were very many English in the town; in fact the town 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


277 


was simply filled with men in uniform. We went through many 
of the stores and took in as much of the town as we could, not 
excepting the historical old cathedral of Cologne. Through 
this place we went guided by one of the priests who spoke the 
most perfect English. He did not hesitate to show us and ex¬ 
plain to us everything of interest throughout the church and 
when we left we all contributed a few francs for the trouble. 
We got back to the depot a little before train time, loaded our 
baggage and then looked the place over. The depot is certainly 
one that they can be proud of. We got on the train a few min¬ 
utes before it pulled out and rode second class passage until we 
arrived in Herbesthal at 7:00 p.m. There we found out that 
there was not another train for Brussels until in the morning 
so we changed our plans and took our baggage to another 
depot and got on a British leave train going to Calais. At 
Herbesthal we went into the station and got something to eat 
before the train started on. Lon [Alonzo E.] Wright and 
[Harry] Shultz were along with us as far as Herbesthal; they 
had passes and were trying to get to Paris. We had no berths 
and we tried to sleep sitting in our seats but it was a pretty 
hard job. At 2:30 Bruning and I got out of the train and took 
a walk up the main street of Huy where the train made a stop 
of an hour. We then came back and napped until morning. 

March 4, 1919:—The train made a stop just at daylight and 
I went up to the engine and got some hot water, brought it 
back to the car and took a good wash. We are now in Luxem¬ 
burg and the people here talk both French and German so it 
makes it a little more difficult for us to get by now. It has 
been raining all day and we have been on the train all day 
and have had nothing at all to eat. During the day and the 
rest of the night we went through many more towns including 
Charleroi, Mons, Liege, Namur, Tournay, Lille, St. Omer, 
Armentiers, and we were also well on our way toward Calais. 
Unfortunately we went over the battlefields of Lille and Ar¬ 
mentiers during the night but we did get to see a great many 
of them during the day. The country is as level as can be 
along where we are now and all along one can see German 
and Polish prisoners working along the way. It has been 
raining all the time, and in all, the trip has not been a very 
pleasant one. Nevertheless the real sights that one sees are 


278 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


very interesting and the effects of actual shell fire can be seen 
all along the line to Armentiers. 

March 5, 1919:—Well this morning early found us at St. 
Omer where the train stopped and I went up to the engine and 
got some more hot water with which I took a good wash and 
refreshed myself a great deal. We are all very tired as sitting 
up all during the night is no pleasant job. The rear part of 
the car that we are in is filled with New Zealand officers and 
they are certainly snappy boys. We arrived at Calais at 9:00 
a.m. unloaded all of our junk from the train and put it on a 
small push car that runs down into the sand dunes where this 
train has stopped. After all of our baggage was on the push 
car we all gave a hand and pushed the junk about a half mile 
to where an English truck was waiting to take it to the Cen¬ 
tral Calais railway station. After all of our junk was gone 
the men made about a four kilometer walk to the station and 
then sat down to wait for the Lieutenant who had gone out to 
find the quickest way to Le Harve where we are supposed to 
get a boat across the channel. This being an English leave 
embarkation port it is impossible for Americans to leave from 
find the quickest way to Le Havre where we are supposed to 
to do so while the Lieutenant was gone we went into one of 
the French hotels and got a very rotten meal and went out 
without paying the cashier. Of course a very pleasant argu¬ 
ment followed with the “frog” proprietor but he didn’t get 
any money anyway. We then went back to the station where 
we found out that the Lieutenant had gotten permission from 
the English R.T.O. for our detachment to go across the channel 
on one of the English leave-boats that was leaving about 8:00 
p.M. The Lieutenant then turned us all loose and told us to 
report back to the Central Station at 2:45 when we would all 
go down to the dock together. Bill, Stepheson (a color Sgt. 
from our regiment) and I followed our baggage down to the 
Calais Maritime on the dock where we are now sitting in 
front of the boat we are to go across in, waiting for the rest 
of the bunch to show up. It was a long wait, or so it seemed 
to us so Bill and I went up to the Maritime Hotel where we 
had a very good meal of omelet and fish. The Lieutenant then 
came up with our transportation orders and we were checked 
off as we boarded the boat. Bill and I immediately got on the 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


279 


highest deck we could find and sat down to look the channel 
over as we crossed it. The boat pulled out at 4:30, the channel 
was very smooth and since it was clear we could see well. 
W hen we were in the middle of the channel we could look to¬ 
ward England and see the white chalk cliffs of Dover and then 
look back and see the sand dunes and the pier buildings on the 
coast of France. Our boat went directly past Dover without 
stopping and went on down the coast to the town of Folkstone 
where we landed. There we immediately boarded the train 
and started for London at which place we arrived at 8:00 p.m. 
We were given a little food by the Red Cross and then sent 
over to the Royal Buckingham Hotel where we washed up, 
tasted a real meal and got our French money changed into 
English. We then went out through the town to see what 
sights we could before bedtime, which was to be early as we 
were pretty well tired out from the long slow trip from Ger¬ 
many. We did see several of the main attractions including 
the Victoria railway station where we came in earlier during 
the evening. 

March 6, 1919:—Well we all slept very hard during the 
night and when I got up this morning I found that I was minus 
my trousers. I immediately blamed Bill of playing a trick on 
me, but on going into the bath room I found that someone had 
tried to get my money during the night and had left my 
trousers in the bath room. I had taken all my big money out 
of my trousers and they got only about seven shillings from 
me. A little lesson not to be forgotten! After we had all 
washed up and taken a shave we went down into the military 
dining room of the same hotel and had a fine breakfast of ham 
and eggs; the first breakfast of that sort I have had for about 
two years. After breakfast we took another walk out through 
the town. We first went down to the Thames River where 
we saw the Houses of Parliament, then back where we saw 
Westminster Abbey and some of London’s famous statues. The 
rest of the morning we spent looking around Trafalgar 
Square; we also bought a camera and started taking pictures. 
At 10:30 we took a bus and went down to the Waterloo Station 
where we boarded a train for Winchester, England. Win¬ 
chester is not a long ride from London and we arrived there 
about 2:30 P.M. When we got off of the train we found out 


280 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


that our orders had been changed and that we were to report 
to Liverpool. We had to wait only about fifteen minutes for 
a train going back to London, and the officers as well as the 
men, had not seen as much of London as we wished to, so back 
to the big city we went. We arrived at the Waterloo Station 
at 6:00 p.m. From the Waterloo Station we transferred our 
baggage to another part of the station and then got in the tube 
and rode over to the Euston Station. I don’t know what direc¬ 
tion we went but I will say that the London tube system is 
certainly a wonder. While I was waiting in the Waterloo Sta¬ 
tion this morning I met a Mrs. Powell from our country, 
Covington, Ky. I talked to her for quite a while and she told 
me that she had a big Hostel (Hotel) near Trafalgar Square 
and should I ever come back down to London she would be de¬ 
lighted to entertain me during my stay. After our baggage 
had been taken care of at the Euston Station all of we fellows 
went over to the Y.M.C.A. where we looked for beds for the 
night. We played around until about 11:00 and then stopped 
into the Picadilly Cafe, one of the swellest in London to get a 
little drink. It being a place where nearly no one enters but 
the elite of London we were naturally looked upon with scorn 
and disgust by most of the patrons. We immediately noticed 
that the waiters tried to put us in a small private booth away 
from the gaze of the ‘higher ups’ but for that special purpose 
we had entered the place, knowing before just what it was and 
what class of people frequented the place. We promptly took 
a vacant table in the center of the floor after walking be¬ 
tween the tables at which were seated a great many of Lon¬ 
don’s belles accompanied by gentlemen. After sipping our 
drinks which were served to us in a hurry, because they were 
anxious to get us out, we leisurely lit a cigarette, talked and 
smoked a little and then slowly left the table giving the glad 
eye to all of the belles who deemed it necessary to turn and 
look us over. By that time the waiters, proprietors and all 
were ready to throw us out so we left without further adieu 
after pausing for the doorkeepers to open the doors for us. 
Our faces we had kept straight until we got on the outside and 
then we had a good laugh. We then took the tube and went 
back to the Y.M.C.A. where we got something to eat and then 
went to bed. It has been sunshiny and pleasant all day long. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


281 


March 7, 1919:—We got up early, at 5:45, took a good wash 
and shave and then went down and had ham and eggs for a 
starter. The three of us went out very early so that we could 
see more of the sights before boarding the train at 9:35 for 
Liverpool. At 9:00 we all went over to the Euston Station 
where we boarded our train for Liverpool. We passed through 
Creve which was about the biggest place on the way but the 
train stopped at many smaller places and at each stop we 
would get out and buy cakes and tea. Nevertheless the train 
was a fast one and we arrived in Liverpool in due time and 
in the rain. Our baggage as well as the men were put in 
trucks and we went directly to Camp Knotty-Ash on the out¬ 
skirts of Liverpool. There we were put into barracks and Bill 
and I immediately made our beds on the floor as there were no 
cots, and by seven we were fast asleep. In our party all the 
time there were about twenty men including five officers. 

March 8, 1919:—It was pretty cold sleeping in these bar¬ 
racks. We have to be in the barracks at 9:30, 1:30 and 3:00 
so that any reports that are necessary may be read to the men; 
the rest of the day we have nothing at all to do. We did not 
get up in time for breakfast so we all went over to the Y.M. 
C.A. and got some jam sandwiches and tea. Jam sand¬ 
wiches are all that one can buy around here. We also went 
into the cantonment just in front of the Y.M.C.A. and filled 
out some blanks, information that they wanted concerning 
the University. Lectures are given all through the day at 
different hours concerning the courses and advantages at the 
different schools. We ate our noon mess at the camp kitchen 
and then sat around until 3:00 P.M. when we got passes to go 
in to Liverpool. We immediately put on our coats, went down 
and caught a car and in one-half hour were giving Liverpool 
the once over. We tried hard to get seats for a show but they 
were all too crowded, so we walked the streets looking things 
over. We went through the long famed old museum, down to 
the piers and to the different statues all over the town, and 
finally landed at the King’s cafe where we had an evening 
meal. We then went back to the theatre and tried to get seats 
but could not. Bruning and Stephenson then started out to 
have some fun, but since I was not feeling so extra well I 
caught a car and went back to camp. By the time I arrived 


282 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


at the camp I realized that I had a very bad cold. I stopped 
at the Y.M.C.A. where I got something to eat and then went 
to my barracks where I doped up and went to bed. 

March 9, 1919:—This morning when I got up too late for 
breakfast I was feeling very ‘bum’. We cleaned up the bar¬ 
racks and then sat around until about 10:00; Bill and I then 
lay down until noon mess time. Our barracks has a separate 
mess table and each day two different fellows go after the food 
for the whole bunch. We did nothing but lie around after 
mess and about 2 :00 p.m. the sun came out so I took a few 
pictures. After the evening mess Bruning and Stephenson 
went out for a while, but the rest of us stayed in and had an 
awful debate about Germany. I am feeling very bad and have 
an awful cold. I went to bed early. 

March 10, 1919:—It is raining and very unpleasant out of 
doors and all the boys did this morning was to lie around the 
cantonment and talk about school. At noon we all had mess 
together and we did nothing until 3:00 p.m. when Bruning 
went down town and sent a cable to my Dad for me, asking 
him to send me Two Hundred dollars. I went down to the 
Y.M.C.A. about 3:15 and hung around until about 4:00, got 
tired and came back to the barracks where I went to sleep 
until evening mess time. We did not have a very good evening 
mess so [Rudolph] Dellinger and I went out of camp and got 
some bacon, potatoes and eggs, and then went over to the 
library where we sat down and wrote some letters. 

March 11, 1919:—Breakfast is always the same old stuff, 
oatmeal, bacon, bread and coffee. After the morning meal I 
took a good wash and shave and the bunch of us sat around 
the fire the rest of the morning. The noon meal is always 
a pretty fair meal but we never have any coffee with it. Dur¬ 
ing the afternoon we sat around the fire again, one can never 
go outside and enjoy the air because I have never seen a day 
that it does not rain. This country is like the Nile country 
and I suppose this is their flood time. For supper we always 
have the same—bread, tomatoes, coffee and sometimes sugar, 
a very poor meal. At 5:00 [Rudolph] Dellinger, Bill [William 
H. Bruning] and I went down to a cafe and got some potatoes, 
bread, bacon, cakes, eggs and tea. All men who are going to 
be sent out to the different British Universities are here now 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


288 


and there are about seventeen hundred in all. The bulletin 
boards always have announcements on them calling different 
fellows up for conferences. We are also getting a small cloth¬ 
ing issue but nothing to speak of. 

March 12, 1919:—I got up in time for breakfast this morn¬ 
ing but when I started over to the mess shack I wished that 
I had stayed in bed. It had been raining and snowing all night 
long and this morning the slush is a good three inches deep. 
All the fellows are staying inside as the weather is so miser¬ 
able. All morning we sat around the barracks with nothing 
to do. At noon we went over to noon mess and then came 
back and lay around until 2:30 when Dellinger and I decided 
that we would go down town. Immediately after arriving 
down town we went to the Court theatre where we bought 
tickets for the evening show. After we had eaten we went out 
and walked around town for a little while and then went to the 
Court theatre where we saw “Naughty Wife” which was 
really pretty fair. Here in this country the cry is always 
‘keep to the left', street cars, automobiles, wagons and every¬ 
thing, and Dellinger and I about broke our necks two or three 
times getting out of the way of the right. The town is lively 
enough and there are some very pretty sights in it but it is 
the dirtiest, blackest place I have ever seen. 

March 13, 1919:—When we got up this morning the sun was 
shining bright and it seemed to put new spirit into the fellows. 
We ate breakfast, cleaned up the cantonment and then I 
started to run all over camp to find the Lieutenant that I was 
supposed to have my conference with. I could not find him 
so I came back to the cantonment and lay around until noon 
mess time. Just after noon mess I got an order to report 
down to the adjutant's office and when I got there I found out 
that the Lieutenant I was looking for wished to speak to me. 
We talked over the possibilities of a Geology course and I 
found that I would probably go to Edinburgh University. The 
sun has been shining all day long and when I got back, Bill 
Dellinger and I took a camera and went down town. We went 
down to the pier and all along the water front and the elevated 
and through the town and took pictures. Bruning then left 
us to meet a friend [Paul Grafe] of his who is here from 
Terre Haute, and is in this school detachment; Dellinger and 


284 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


I went up town and got some tickets for the Empire Vaude¬ 
ville show. We then went down to the Bear Cafe and had a 
very fine supper. On our way back to the town some of our 
esteemed ?? M.P.s tried to chase me home for having high 
shoes on, but I slipped into the show and got by with it in reg¬ 
ular style. The show started at 6:30 and the thing was one of 
the most crude I have ever seen. When the show was over we 
went to a tea room where we had something to eat and then 
came home. I went to bed with one of the worst headaches I 
have ever had, but the day had been very pleasant. 

March 14, 1919:—I got up in time for breakfast this morn¬ 
ing and without a headache. We signed the pay roll a few 
days ago and we will get our pay at 3:00 this afternoon. Some 
of the boys have been assigned to different schools but ‘Bilk 
and I are just waiting. After the noon mess I went up to a 
small American Express office here in camp and found out 
that my money was at the down town office waiting for me. I 
could not go down after it as we were to be paid at 3:00 P.M. 
and I am going to stick around for that. 

March 15, 1919:—This morning I went down town and got 
the money that was awaiting me from home. I then came 
back to the camp and paid Bill some money that I owed him 
and loaned him some besides. By then it was nearly dinner 
time so we went to the mess hall and ate. After dinner Paul 
Grafe, Bill’s friend from Terre Haute, came into the canton¬ 
ment and we went down town. Before we went I put a pair 
of wraps over my high shoes so that the M.P.s would not try 
to chase me home again. Bill and I went down to the Bear’s 
Paw and started on a real meal. We tried to get tickets to 
the “Little Minister” but all the seats were taken so we wan¬ 
dered around town and finally went to see Charlie Chaplin in 
“Shoulder Arms”. 

March 16, 1919:—All assignments are made and are being 
posted as rapidly as the boys can be gotten out of camp. Many 
of the boys from our cantonment have already started for Lon¬ 
don and Birmingham. During the morning we sat around the 
fire and talked and every once in a while we ran out and looked 
at the bulletin board. At noon we all went to the camp mess 
hall and for a wonder we had a real meal. We did nothing the 
rest of the afternoon until 5:00 P.M. when Dellinger and I 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


285 


went down town. We immediately went to the Y.M.C.A. in 
Lord street and got something to eat and then we tried to get 
tickets to “Soldier Boy” but the house was sold out. 

March 17, 1919:—This morning the mess system was 
changed and now we can not eat until we have fourteen men 
at the table. The weather is dark and cloudy today. During 
the morning, Fields, one of the boys in the cantonment went 
down town and got tickets for “Soldier Boy”, the rest of us 
hung around the cantonment until noon mess time and went 
to the rotten meal for the want of something to do. At 12:45 
we, or rather our cantonment, had to furnish a detail to go to 
Camp 10 and report at the baggage room. I took our detail 
of men over and when we got there I found out that we were 
supposed to help load officers’ baggage, so I immediately told 
the men to tear out and we all left. No hustling baggage for 
officers now, the war is over. We immediately went over to 
Camp 40 and got our shot for the “flu”, no one can leave the 
camp now without a shot in the arm. We went to the 
Royal Court Theatre tonight and saw “Soldier Boy” and it 
was a pretty fair show but about as slow as the usual “English 
Character”. My arm has not gotten sore at all thus far and 
I am certainly glad of it. 

March 18, 1919 :—Five men had to go on K.P. from our can¬ 
tonment this morning and quite a few of us got up for break¬ 
fast. After mess we cleaned up the barracks and then sat 
down by the fire; about 10:00 a.m. [Paul] Grafe came in and 
Bill, Grafe and I piled under the covers and stayed there until 
noon mess time. We ate noon mess in a hurry and having 
nothing more to occupy our time we again crawled in bed; 
there we stayed until 4:45. Then all of us got up and went 
down town; it has been raining all day long and is very mis¬ 
erable out doors. We went directly to the Y.M.C.A. where we 
got something to eat and then we went to a picture show where 
we saw Charlie Chaplin in “The Show” and “The Scandal”. 
Most of the boys from the camp have already gone to school 
and we hear that our departure list was supposed to be up 
today, it was not, so I suppose we will leave tomorrow some 
time. 

March 19, 1919:—When we got up in time for breakfast this 
morning it was rainy, snowy and very miserable outside. For 


286 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


a supposedly good country this is a h-of a place I must say. 

After breakfast I took a good wash and shave and then some 
of the boys had to go out on a detail, but I slipped it and now 
I have nothing to do. [William H.] Bruning, [Chester A.] 
Miles and [Paul] Grafe leave tonight. Bruning goes to Edin¬ 
burgh, and Miles and Grafe go to Glasgow. At 5:00 [Rudolph] 
Dellinger and a few more of us went down to a cafe and had 
a big meal; the boys are leaving camp very fast now and it 
will probably be but a short while before they are all gone. 

March 20, 1919:—We got up this morning greeted by the 
usual Liverpool weather, rain and snow; we immediately ate 
breakfast and cleaned up the barracks. We lay around until 
noon when a departure list came including our names and we 
immediately gave the barracks its last and final cleaning and 
started preparing to leave. We turned in blankets and then 
went over to the Y.M.C.A. and drank chocolate until 4:00 P.M. 
when we received our traveling orders. You will notice that 
before leaving on any kind of a trip we always eat all we can 
hold because we can never tell just when and where we are 
going to get our next meal. I then came back to the barracks, 
cleaned up a bit, put our baggage in the baggage room and 
then went down town. Dellinger and I immediately went to 
the Bear’s Paw where we ate another meal and then we went 
to a picture show. About 11:00 P.M. we came back to the 
station and saw that our baggage was put on the train. Del¬ 
linger and the rest of the boys go to Edinburgh and [Ben L.] 
Long and I go to Glasgow; we are all on the same train. We 
all climbed on the train at the last moment and pulled out of 
Liverpool at 12:45. I hope I never see this rotten hole again 
during my short life. 

March 21, 1919:—We rode first class passage alright but 
England’s first class passage is like that of France, good, just 
about good enough for our nicest aristocratic cattle! We had 
to make a wild scramble at a place by the name of Wigan 
where the Edinburgh boys caught a different train when we 
changed as they go in a different direction. We had to sepa¬ 
rate all of our baggage, take it down on the elevator at the 
track we were on, load it on a small truck, run it underground 
about four or five tracks, bring it up on another elevator, pile 
it into the right train and no one knew which was the right 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


287 


train, pile on ourselves, take a long breath and then we were 
ready to start. After the fray I looked out of the car window 
to make sure old Ben Long was not lost in the shuffle and I 
really lost my breath; there was Ben Long looking out of a car 
window of the Edinburgh train. I called and motioned for him 
and he did the same to me. Finally I convinced him that he 
was on the wrong train and he had to get his baggage out of 
that train and get it on our train on the run. When we were 
all settled I began to breathe easy and I slept sitting up all 
the rest of the way to Glasgow; however, every time I woke 
up I could hear Ben trying to regain what breath he had lost 
in the station at Wigan. The rest of the ride was very rough 
and tiresome but we slept most all the way. We arrived at 
Glasgow at 8:30 p.m. and went directly up to the Y.M.C.A. 
where I was to meet Paul Grafe. There I met the head of the 
‘Y’ here in Glasgow, Mr. Jordan, later known as ‘Pop’ Jordan, 
and he knew Uncle George Borst very well as he was from 
Colorado Springs. At the ‘Y’ we met Miles and Grafe, had 
breakfast in the ‘Y’ dining room and signed up for a week’s 
board there in the ‘Y’. Grafe in the meantime had been scout¬ 
ing around and had a good hotel run by the Rotary Club in 
view, so we went over and talked the proposition over. We 
took a double room, so did Miles and Long. Long and I had 
checked our baggage at the station, so down to the station we 
went, got our baggage, and came past the ‘Y’ for Grafe and 
Miles. After the rickety old one horse cab of a taxi that we 
had hired to take us and our junk to the Grand Hotel had 
broken down, in the middle of the car track and scattered our 
baggage all over the southern end of Glasgow, we arrived at 
the hotel. The hotel is a very nice one with all of the con¬ 
veniences one could wish for so after we were fully organized 
we washed up and then sat down to write a few letters home 
to the people. At 2:00 p.m. we went back over to the Y.M.C.A. 
where we got the ‘dope’ on the school from the Captain in 
charge of all the American University men here in Glasgow. 
From there Grafe and I wandered around over the town and I 
must say that I believe I will be very well satisfied with it, it 
is very clean, large, busy and pleasant. We bought tickets 
to the theatre and then went back to the hotel where we sat 
down and wrote some more letters. At 6:30 we ate our 
evening meal, it was pretty good, both noon and evening meal 


288 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


costs one shilling and six pence each and they are not at all bad. 
After we had eaten we sat around in the lounging room for a 
while and then went down to a vaudeville show and it certain¬ 
ly was about the rottenest thing I have seen for a long 
while. When we got back to the hotel there was a big dance 
going on and it was one of the Scotch swell affairs. The 
Rotary Club controls the rates here in this hotel for any sol¬ 
diers who may happen to stop and I will say they are very 
reasonable. We got in bed about 11:00 P.M., and between 
white sheets at that. 

March 22, 1919:—Graves and I did not get up until 8:00 
this morning, ate breakfast and then went down town. The 
first place we stopped was a pipe store where we each bought 
a pipe to start in on. We then looked around the town a little 
more and finally went out to the University grounds. The 
buildings and grounds are certainly beautiful and a place that 
Glasgow can be proud of. The buildings are made of white 
stone, very massive and are all up on a big hill which over¬ 
looks the city. We tried to see the Professors of the courses 
we wished to take but they were both out so we came back to 
the hotel. At 3:00 p.m. about twenty-four of we fellows went 
to a dance that the girls of Glasgow gave for us. First we 
had sandwiches and cake and then the dance started. Say 
boy it was some dance! I can j ust remember seeing the boys 
out in the middle of the floor trying to do the Scottish fling 
and the Highland fling and all I could see was the soldier 
hands and hob-nailed shoes flying through the air. None of 
our boys broke a bone but they were ready for a good rub 
down when the end finally came and we all went home. Sev¬ 
eral intermissions were called and during each we had tea and 
cakes. The hall had very good floor and the boys got lots to 
eat but other than that I can not say. The dance had not 
broken up when I left about 11:00 P. M., but I was all in and 
could hold no more tea or cakes so I beat it. It seems to be an 
insult to leave before the thing is over, or at least pronounced 
about over, so I went into the fellows dressing room where I 
quietly opened the door leading to the outside, deposited my 
hat and coat on the steps and then went out through the hall 
and stepped through the main door as if going out to get a 
breath of fresh air. However it was not so much the fresh air 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


289 


that I wanted, but relief was the big item. From now on I 
will be familiar with Scotch dances. I caught a car for Charing 
Cross and felt a great deal better when I was safely on the 
street car bound for the hotel. I bought some oranges on the 
way home, went up to my room and sat down where I en¬ 
joyed three of them before going to bed. Our room had been 
cleaned and our beds made when I got there and I really feel 
like a civilian once more. It is now 12:00, and where Grafe 
is it is Mrd to say. 


19—22902 


CHAPTER XIV 
Scotland 

March 23, 1919:—[Paul] Grafe and I did not get up this 
morning until 10:00 just in time to get in to breakfast at 
10:30. After breakfast we went to the writing room and 
wrote letters until 1:15. We then went to the noon meal. 
After the meal was over [Benjamin L.] Long, Grafe and I 
took a long walk out to the west part of Glasgow and then 
came back on the car. It being Sunday the day seems very 
long and we can find hardly anything to do as nearly every 
store in Glasgow closes on Sunday, even the cigar stores. We 
took a little walk later on, and found an ice cream parlor open, 
we certainly did it justice too. We then came back to the 
hotel and wrote letters until 6:45 when we went down to 
supper. After the meal we took a walk down town, and to 
our surprise the streets were so crowded that we could hardly 
get by. We thought that something had happened but I asked 
a man who looked like he would want to enlighten us about his 
fair city and he told us that the people were just out for a 
walk. All of Glasgow was walking on the two main streets 
of the town. We came back to the hotel about 9:00. 

March 24,1919:—We got up at 8:00, and after we had eaten 
our breakfasts we started on a tour of the town to find a tailor 
who would “put us up” (a Scotch expression) a tailored suit 
for a reasonable price at least. It is very strange how money 
rules the world because we walked enough during the morn¬ 
ing for some rich tailor to give us a suit, but what we wanted 
was too high priced. At 10:30 we gave up all hope and went 
out to the University to see our Professors, same luck, not a 
Prof, back from the war yet! We then came back to the hotel 
where we washed and cleaned up for a dinner with Mr. Bert 
Heilbran who is a wholesale liquor dealer. Grafe and I met 
him through a little plan that we tried to work out. We were 
talking the situation over one day and we decided to go to 
see Mr. Heilbran who is a big man in the Rotary Club and 
see whether or not he could get us a job with some engineering 
firm since the school doesn’t seem to open up. Of course after 


( 290 ) 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


291 


we had made his acquaintance he would not listen to the plan, 
just as we had hoped he would do. He talked to us for a while 
and then invited us to dine with him today. We went over to 
his place of business where he sat us down in his private 
office and talked to us for a little while. He then made us 
drink a Scotch highball and partake of some of his cigarettes. 
During the course of the conversation we told him of our 
hunt for a reasonable priced tailored suit and he immediately 
gave us a letter of introduction to a Mr. [Murray] Dewar 
who would be glad to help us out. After the meal which we 
had at the Rotary Club, Grafe and I took the car and went 
out to Mr. Dewar’s uniform manufacturing house; there we 
met Mr. Dewar and he showed some patterns and gave us 
prices on suits, the best we had so far seen. We looked the 
goods over and then came back to the hotel to talk it over. 
After our evening meal we went down to the Royal Theatre 
at 7:20 where we saw the “Maid of the East”; [Chester A.] 
Miles had gotten tickets for that show a few days ago. It 
was a very good show, the best I have seen in the British 
Isles. On the way home we bought some oranges which we 
ate before going to bed. 

March 25, 1919: — After breakfast this A.M. we went down 
to Mr. Dewar’s to be measured for a suit. We got out there 
about 10:00 and were measured up, after which he took us 
all over his firm and also told us all about his business. When 
the war started he had the largest uniform manufacturing 
house in Scotland and of course during the war his business 
grew and now he is well fixed. He then invited us to dine with 
him and attend a business meeting of the Rotary Club. We 
accepted and on the way down town he took us through St. 
George’s Square, the stock exchange, the prison, the stock 
yards and a few other interesting places. When we got to the 
Rotary Club we washed up and then went in to dinner; while 
there we met most of the members and [Paul] Grafe had to 
give them a little talk. They are certainly the most hospitable 
people I have yet come in contact with. We had a very fine 
meal and when we left the Club we went on over to the “Y” 
where there was supposed to be a meeting of the students; 
when we got there we found out that the meeting had been 
called off so we went out through the town to look at some 
shoes. We found out that most of the stores have a half hoi- 


292 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


iday on Monday so we went back to the hotel and wrote 
letters. We are getting invitations to all kinds of dinners and 
we can’t take half of them in so we are picking out the best 
ones and letting it go at that. After I had finished writing I 
took one of the big chairs and went to sleep. Old Grafe 
slipped off and had a date so I went down to supper alone. I 
then sat around in front of the fire until about 9:00 and then 
went to bed. 

March 26, 1919:—After breakfast Grafe and I went out to 
the University where we saw General Cormac who is the head 
of the Engineering Department of the University. I found 
out that there are no courses in Geology offered during this 
last term. We then came back to the hotel where we had our 
noon meal and then I went along with Grafe to order a new 
Stetson campaign hat. From there I went over to the Walk¬ 
over shoe shop and bought a new pair of shoes. I also had 
some pictures at a kodak shop being developed and printed 
and we went over and got them, they were very good. We 
went from there over to the ‘ Y’ where Grafe got a book to read. 
Last night two Canadian soldiers tried to rob one of the 
American boys here in this hotel but he caught them at it 
and lost nothing. They got away from the Yank, as the Scotch 
call us, and he was the only one up on the fourth floor at the 
time. 

March 27, 1919:—This morning we slept until 8:30 and 
Grafe missed his 9:00 a.m. class. After we had eaten break¬ 
fast we went down to a shoe shop where I had rubber soles 
put on my new shoes and left my high ones to be repaired. 
From there we went out to Mr. Dewar’s to have our suits 
fitted. Only my blouse was ready. On the way through town 
we bought tickets for the Alhambra. At 6:30 we ate our 
dinners at the hotel and then sat down to wait for Mr. De- 
war, who we took to the show with us. When he came he 
sat around for a little while and then went down to the show 
where we saw a regular American vaudeville show which was 
really very good. 

March 28, 1919:—At 8:00 a.m. we got up and after eating 
breakfast Grafe went to a 9:00 o’clock lecture at the Univer¬ 
sity. I took a few pictures this morning while I was out. 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


293 


After we had eaten I went out to the University with [Ches¬ 
ter A.] Miles and [Benjamin L.] Long to attend a lecture on 
Economics. When we got back to the hotel there was a letter 
there from [William H.] Bruning waiting for me and Grafe 

got one from [.] Burgess. He is in London and is 

coming up tonight so we are going to meet him at the sta¬ 
tion at 7:30. We sat around the hotel for a while and then 
washed up and went down town. First we found the St. 
Enoch station and then went back to the ‘Y’ where we ate our 
evening meal. After eating we went down to the station but 
missed the train by about five minutes. We immediately came 
back to the ‘Y’ to wait for him and it was not long before he 
came trotting in. 

March 29, 1919:—The weather has been bright and sun¬ 
shiny for the past few days but it has been cold nevertheless. 
At the ‘Y’ we filled out vouchers for commutation of rations 
for our trip, gave over two copies of our traveling orders and 
then came back to the hotel. The three of us then went over 
to the ‘Y’ where we had our dinner and then we went to a good 
picture show. After the show Grafe and Burgess went back 
to the ‘Y’ to a dance but I was not feeling so well so I went on 
back to the hotel. Going home I noticed a very peculiar 
characteristic about the city of Glasgow, all of the people 
come out to walk during the evening and they all stay on one 
side of the street, one can hardly get by. The street cars are 
all double deckers and the boys in uniform ride for one half 
penny. I got back to the hotel and then paid our bill which 
cost us two pounds and four shillings for eleven nights. 

March 30, 1919:—Last night at 12:00 the ‘boobs’ turned the 
time up one hour and this morning we did not get up until 
10:00. We sat around talking and smoking until noon time 
and immediately after we had eaten we went out to the Glas¬ 
gow University Art Galleries. There we stayed until 4:30 
and then came back to the hotel. 

March 31, 1919:—After breakfast I went down to the 
Walkover shoe shop to see whether or not they had repaired 
my shoes. They were not done so I took a walk all over town 
hunting for pipe cleaners. I could not find any so I came 
back to the hotel and read until 1:00. After lunch I went out 



294 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


to the University to a lecture. I got back to the hotel about 
3:30, sat down and finished my book and then the three of us 
went over to the ‘Y’ for dinner. From there we went up to 
the Picture House, one of the prettiest picture shows I have 
ever seen. I have received only one letter all this month. 

April 1, 1919:—We went to the Rotary Club today with Mr. 
[Albert] Heilbran for dinner. Mr. Bransby Williams was 
there, he is the great Dickens impersonator, he gave a little 
talk and then we had a fine meal. After the meal the three of 
us talked to Mr. Williams for quite a while. From the Rotary 
Club we went over to the ‘Y’ where we wrote out a report of 
about seventy-five words concerning what we have been doing 
since we have been here. This report goes to the army. We 
also got some books out of the ‘Y’ library and then came home. 
I wrote up some class notes and then we went over to the 
‘Y’ for dinner. When we got back to the hotel we got in our 
room and started to read. 

April 2, 1919:—I called for my shoes again this morning, 
but received the usual reply, '‘Not done”. I then went over to 
the Argyle Street terminal where I caught a car and went out 
to Mr. Dewar’s to have my suit fitted. Grafe and Burgess 
were on the same car so we all went out together. Mr. Heil¬ 
bran told Mr. Dewar to rush our suits so that we could go to 
the Rotary Club dance, but we told Mr. Dewar to take his 
time and consequently we are not going to the dance. We are 
glad the suits will not be done in time because we do not want 
to go to the dance. After our suits had been fitted Mr. Dewar 
walked in to town with us and on the way in we passed the 
stock exchange and it was a stock day so we stopped a few 
minutes to watch them. He also pointed out several other 
things of interest on the way in. Grafe got his first mail from 
France today. 

April 3, 1919:—After our class this morning we went over 
to the Y.M.C.A. where a picture was taken of all of the Amer¬ 
ican soldiers now going to Glasgow University. After lunch 
we three went to a picture show and then I went over to tell 
Mr. Heilbran that we would not be at the dance tonight. 
When I told Mr. Heilbran that our suits would not be finished 
he told me that he had just finished talking to Mr. Dewar and 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


295 


he had told him to rush the suits. That got me pretty well 
‘peeved' so I went back to the hotel where I phoned Mr. De- 
war and told him to take all the time he wanted on those suits. 
Mr. Dewar also sent me some books on the History of Scotland 
which are very good and will help me a great deal in my study. 
The three of us then went over to the ‘Y' for dinner and then 
to a picture show. After we got home and ready for bed 
Grafe and I had a little wrestling match and then Burgess and 
Grafe went to bed. I sat up until 12:00 and read “Mary 
Queen of Scots". 

April 4, 1919:—Just as I was leaving my room this after¬ 
noon Burgess came up the stairs with thirty-four letters for 
me that had been forwarded to me from Germany. I sat down 
and read letters until 1:45 and then ‘beat it' out to the Uni¬ 
versity. At 3:00 P.M. when the class was over I came di¬ 
rectly back to the hotel and sat down and read letters until 
5:45. After the meal we went to a picture show and then 
back to the hotel. 

April 5, 1919:—I spent the entire morning writing letters, 
did not finish until 1:00 P.M. About four o'clock this after¬ 
noon we met Mr. Dewar and went to his home with him for a 
dinner. We were taken to the Dewar home by Mongo the 
oldest brother and Ernest the younger brother and there we 
met Mr. and Mrs. Dewar, Mary Dewar, a daughter of about 
twelve or thirteen, Mr. and Mrs. Stokes (Mr. Stokes is a judge 
from the eastern part of Scotland), Mrs. MacQueen, a friend 
of the Dewars and Miss Collins, a friend of Mongo's I think. 
The first thing we did was to have a drink and then we sat 
down to smoke. We then went into the drawing room, a very 
beautiful home they have, where we heard some music. About 
4:30 we went down to a tea, but really it was a very fine 
meal. After the tea the younger son and daughter put on their 
kilts and did some very pretty dancing for us. The Highland 
fling was about the prettiest one of the lot. During the 
rest of the evening we had a very interesting musical pro¬ 
gram and about 9:00 we went down to the real dinner. It 
certainly was a peach, everything one could think of includ¬ 
ing plenty of drinks, smokes and pastries. After the dinner 
we went again up into their drawing room where we heard 
a great many good old Scotch stories, and also saw how Mr. 


296 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Dewar learned to dance out in the dusty road, bare legged, in 
kilts with the girls of Perth. At 12:00 they sent us home in 
a taxi. 

April 6, 1919:—Burgess went home yesterday morning and 
slipped us a box of cigars before he left. Grafe and I have 
moved from room 114 to room 150, a very much better room. 
After we had fixed and straightened up the room I went down 
to write some letters. 

April 7, 1919:—After breakfast we took our laundry down, 
and then went over to the ‘Y’ to see if there was not some 
‘dope’ on pay, but there was none. I had nothing at all to do so 
I sat around and read Scotch history until 2:30, and then I 
went out to the University to my 3 o'clock class. After class I 
‘bummed' around town and about 5:00 I went over to the ‘Y' 
where I met Grafe and we had dinner together. Today has 
been a wonderful spring day and everyone seems to have the 
spring fever. 

April 8, 1919:—When Grafe came from his class this morn¬ 
ing we both went out to Dewars to try on our suits. They 
are coming along very nicely and we have to go back tomor¬ 
row. After lunch we went to a picture show and when we 
got back to the hotel there were four letters waiting for me. 

I wrote letters until 5:00 P.M. and then went out for a walk 
while Grafe slept. 

April 9, 1919:—We went out to Mr. Dewars this A.M. where 
we tried on our suits, they are sure looking fine and we will 
get them Friday. After dinner at the *Y' we carried out our 
usual program and went to a show. We got back to the hotel 
about 9:00 and there is a dance going here tonight. We are 
now going to bed and we can hear the music very well. It 
certainly sounds good. 

April 10, 1919:—We got up at 9:00 this morning when we 
heard some one knocking on our door. Sgt. [William R.] 
Mann who had been with us at Liverpool, and is going to 
Edinburgh now, had been on some agricultural trips through 
the Southern part of Scotland and stopped in to see us. He 
is going back to Edinburgh tomorrow. No mail today. I made • 
a little account book tonight to keep track of what I spend 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


297 


and try to save the two hundred dollars I cabled home for. 
About 7:30 as we were sitting there wondering what to do 
Mr. Mongo Dewar came in and we spent a pleasant evening 
hearing about some of his naval experiences. He stayed until 
9:30 and then Grafe and I ate our oranges and cakes and went 
to bed. 

April 11, 1919:—We went out to Mr. Dewars this morning 
and got our suits. Mongo Dewar came in to town on the car 
with us; we stopped off and bought a couple of coat hangers 
before going back to the hotel. At 1:00 I ate my lunch and 
then went out to class. When I got back to the hotel we both 
put on our good suits and went out to Mr. Dewars for dinner. 
There we sat around and played cards, smoked and drank 
until 9:00 when we had another tea and about 12:00 we 
came back to the hotel. There is a dance here at the hotel to¬ 
night and we are letting the music put us to sleep. 

April 12, 1919:—After we had eaten our breakfast this 
morning Grafe went out to find some pipe cleaners while I 
re-arranged the hooks in our closet. After dinner we went 
to another picture show and from the picture show to the ‘Y’ 
again where they were having a dance. We stayed there 
until 11:00 and had a very good time. 

April 13, 1919:—At 11:00 today all the American men of 
the student detachment were paid. Grafe and I then went 
back to the hotel where we sat down to figure out how much 
money we could save. The day has been a very pleasant one 
as far as weather is concerned, but Glasgow is surely a dead 
place on Sunday. 

April 14, 1919:—While down town this morning I bought a 
copy of Edgar Allen Poe’s tales and a wrist identification 
tag which I will get Wednesday after it is engraved. Grafe 
bought some pipe tobacco and then we went back to the hotel. 
I received a letter from Aunt Elizabeth Borst this morning, 
one of the first from the United States I have received. It 
came over in eleven days. I immediately sat down and an¬ 
swered it and then sat down to read some from Poe. After 

I had started to read [Rudolph] Dellinger and [.] 

Hughes came in from Edinburgh, they were on their way 
to Ireland. We sat around and talked for a while and at 6:30 



298 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


went down to dinner. After the dinner we went down to the 
New Savoy where we saw a good picture. The New Savoy 
is one of the best picture show houses I have been in (about 
like the Circle in Indianapolis). We then took the boys down 
to St. Enoch station but found that their train left from the 
Central Station. We put them on the train and came back 
to the hotel. I read a little Poe and then went to bed. 

April 15, 1919:—We went out to Mr. Dewars tonight, and 
he warned us that we were not taking advantage of his home 
the way he wanted us to. There we talked, smoked and drank 
and played cards and about 9:00 we had a very nice little meal. 
Ernest and Mary Dewar, along with a little Belgian girl 
whose father had been killed during the war, walked back to 
the hotel with us. 

April 16, 1919:—I spent some time this morning in the 
lounging room reading my copy of Poe. There was no mail 
so [Paul] Grafe decided to go to Edinburgh. He left at 2:05, 
and I went down town where I bought a pair of gloves, got 
my identification tag, some fruit and came back to the hotel. 
At 5:00 I cleaned up, had my dinner and then went on a date 
with a little Scotch girl I had met through Mongo Dewar. 
We went to a picture show and then to a tea room and I had 
a very pleasant evening. 

April 17, 1919:—Grafe is still in Edinburgh. I bought two 
seats this morning for a show next Wednesday at the King's 
Theatre. When I got back to the hotel tonight a dance was 
going on so I decided to stay up and read and listen to the 
music for a while. I went over to the room in which [Chester 
A.] Miles and [Benjamin L.] Long live and there I found 
Miles all alone reading. 

April 18, 1919:—Burgess sent us some tobacco today from 
London but we have had no mail from the States yet. Dur¬ 
ing the rest of the morning we sat around smoking and talk¬ 
ing. About 2:00 p.m. we went to a picture show and then 
came back to the hotel again and read. Mr. Dewar called me 
up and wants us to go out in his machine with him tomorrow. 
The day has been a very fine one, but is very lonesome as there 
is nothing at all to do. 

April 19, 1919:—Grafe and I each bought a new 3B pipe 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


299 


this morning. At 2:00 p.m. Grafe went out and refereed a 
Navy-Army basket-ball game. He got home about 5:00. 
After dinner we went to a picture show. After the show we 
went down to the ‘Y’ dance where they served peaches and ice 
cream and we had a very good time. 

April 20, 1919:—Easter! We did not get up until 10:00 
and as we were hurrying down to breakfast we met [Rudolph] 
Dellinger, Hughes and Bond who had just gotten back from 
Ireland. I gave them the key to our room and when we had 
finished eating we came up and sat around with them. I 
dressed to go out to Mr. Dewars and Grafe and I got out there in 
time for a very fine Easter dinner and then after we had 
talked for a little while we took a long walk through the 
Botanical Gardens and all over the northern part of Glasgow. 
We got back to Dewar’s home about 5:30; had some tea and 
cake and then came back to the hotel. We then washed up a 
little, took a walk down through town and over to the ‘Y’ and 
then back to the hotel. 

April 21, 1919:—About 11:00 this morning I received mail 
from home and immediately went down to the lounging room 
where I sat down to answer my letters. No stores are open 
today as they have declared it an Easter Holiday. The day is 
very pleasant, warm and just like spring. After dinner we 
went to a picture show and when we got back to the hotel 
there was a dance going on. 

April 22, 1919:—At 12:00 today we met the Heilbran 
brothers and went with them to the Rotary Club where we 
heard Mr. Dewar’s opening speech as President of the Rotary 
Club. We got away from there about 2:00 p.m. and I went 
over to the Camera Shop where I ordered a leather case for 
my camera. Grafe and I then went over to the ‘Y’ for a few 
minutes, then to a picture show and then back to the hotel. 
We have some tickets for the second show at the Alhambra 
tonight. We went up to the Cranston Tea House where we 
got a table and sat down to a cup of tea and a smoke. While 
we were sitting there a little Jew came over and sat down with 
us. He was from the States and told us all about himself; he 
is in the fur business over here and wears a couple of dia¬ 
monds big enough to belong in the King’s Crown. Before we 
left he had invited us to dine with him next Saturday. 


300 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


April 23, 1919:—I got up at 8:00 a.m. this morning and 
after I had eaten breakfast [Chester A.] Miles and [Benjamin 
L.] Long and I went out to the University to try to sign up. 
We got very little information but did find out when we would 
start our classes. I stayed only long enough to report for roll 
call this evening and then I left as I had a date with a little 
Scotch girl by the name of Barbara Wilson. After I had met 
her I went over to the cable office where I sent a cable home to 
mother for her birthday. From there I took the girl over to 
the Brown’s Tea House where we had a very nice little din¬ 
ner. From there we went up to the New Savoy Tea House 
where we got a table and a comfortable place and played 
around until 7:00 p.m. We then went over to the King’s 
Theatre where I had reserved seats and saw a very good show. 
After the show I took her to the train as she lives five or six 
miles out of Glasgow and then came back to the hotel. There 
I found Miles with a whole box of lemon pie that he had 
gotten from the ‘Y’ and I certainly sat down and ate. Grafe 
came home about 11:00. Mr. Heilbran had taken him to some 
athletic club and given him and also myself a membership. 
It has a very good swimming pool in it and I think we will at¬ 
tend a great deal. 

April 24, 1919:—This morning we got a list of all the 
American students here at Glasgow and took it over to Mr. 
Heilbran. The Rotary Club is going to give a smoker for all 
of the boys and that is what he wanted the list for. We then 
went down after my new leather camera case but it was not 
in yet so we went to the Glasgow City Hall, to the food con¬ 
trollers office, where we got a sugar ration book. It is getting 
very hard to get sugar here now and so we are going to be on 
the safe side. On the way back to the hotel I bought a sack 
of English walnuts and at 6:30 we went down to dinner. There 
is another dance here at the hotel tonight. 

April 25, 1919:—We got up at 9:00 a.m. and after eating 
breakfast Miles, Long, Grafe [Claude C.] Dunlop and I went 
out to the university and matriculated. From the university 
we caught a car and I came on down town and got the case for 
my camera. Grafe and I cleaned up and then went down and 
ate dinner before meeting our Jew friend, as we felt like he 
might not feed us all that we wanted. We then went to a 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


301 


picture show with him and then came home. Another dance 
here tonight \ 

April 26, 1919:—I went down to the little Jew’s office at 
6:00 and Grafe came at 6:30 and the little Jew then took us 
to dinner and also to the Cranston Tea House where we sat 
and talked for a while. We then went over to the ‘Y’ for a 
little while and then back to the Cranston Tea House where 
we sat around smoking and talking and listening to the music. 
The weather has been rather cold today; there was no mail. 
Dance here tonight! 

April 27, 1919:—It is very cold today and has been snow¬ 
ing ever since I got up. About 4:00 Grafe called Mr. Dewar 
and the result was that Mongo came up about 5:00. In the 
meantime Grafe and I had put on our good clothes and by 
5:30 we were at the Dewar home. We sat around talking and 
smoking until 6:30 and then we had tea. At 9:00 we had a 
regular dinner and then Grafe and I came home. Dewars 
also told us that they were going to take us (Grafe and I) 
down to the Kyles of Bute for a week. 

April 28, 1919:—I got up at 9:00, went down to breakfast 
and while there I found out that there was a class in history 
that I should have attended but it is too late now. I went out 
to a 2:00 P.M. class in Economics and that was over by three. 
These Scotch classes are very peculiar, the old Professor 
comes in dressed in his cap and gown and the students all 
shuffle their feet as a means of applauding. During the class 
as the old Professor lectures he never asks a question, the 
students shuffle their feet for any good point that he happens 
to bring out. After the class I went over to the Arlington 
Bath and Athletic Club where I met Grafe and we went in 
swimming. The water was very cold but it was sure a treat. 
From there we went over to the ‘Y’ and handed in a report as 
to just what subjects we were taking, the number of hours 
work a day in the university we had, and the approximate 
date of the end of the course. There is another dance here 
tonight! 

April 29, 1919:—We got up about 9:00 and Grafe went out 
to a 10:00 class. At 11:00 I was out at the university at¬ 
tending a class in Scottish History and Literature. After 


302 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


class I took a car and rode down as far as Argyle street where 
I met Mr. Dewar and went with him as his guest to the Ro¬ 
tary Club. There I met Major Vivian Henderson. After the 
dinner Grafe and Mongo went down town to play around but 
I hunted up a book store where I bought a loose leaf note¬ 
book for school. We went down to the Y.M.C.A. for dinner 
tonight. 

April 30, 1919:—This afternoon we met Mongo Dewar who 
brought us some extra copies of our travel orders, he had 
them made for us out at his plant. We then went up to the 
adjutant's office where we made out our pay vouchers and 
attached two copies of our travel orders and then the three 
of us went to Danny Brown's and had dinner. From there 
we went to the Empire Theatre and bought a box for the 
second show. We then went to the New Savoy to a picture 
show and then back to the Empire where we saw “Week End” 
which was pretty fair. 

May 1, 1919:—I attended a 10:00 class this morning. All 
afternoon I wrote up notes and about 5:00 I took a general 
clean up and put on my good clothes. At 6:30 Grafe and I 
ate our dinners and then went to the Theatre Royal where 
we saw “Merry England”. The show was good. When we 
got back to our room we noticed that Betty (our maid) had 
put up brand new curtains for us. 

May 2, 1919:—After class this morning I came back to the 
hotel and wrote up notes. I worked on them until 3:00. When 
I got back to the hotel the sun was shining so Grafe and I 
took our kodaks and took a few snaps. We immediately took 
the films down to have them developed and printed. On our 
way back we bought a big cake covered with icing and ate it 
all by ourselves. We went out to Dewars this evening, and 
spent a very delightful evening. We met quite a few more 
Scotch people, played some games and came home about 12:30. 

May 3, 1919:—Grafe and I about 1:00 today went over to 
the W where we met [Benjamin L.] Long and [Claude C.] 
Dunlop and we started out to Hampden Park to see the Inter¬ 
national Football game between Scotland and England. We 
caught the train to the game, at the Central station. When 
we got out to the park it was trying to rain and the game 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


BOB 


was delayed a little. The game was a very good one and I 
would judge about twenty thousand people saw it. The final 
score was England-4 and Scotland-3. I also took a few pic¬ 
tures of the game. When we returned we ate at the ‘Y’ and 
then Long and I walked up to the Empire Theatre where we 
booked seats for the “Passing Show”. 

May 4, 1919:—The ‘snow’ is out this morning that we 
leave here some time between 5th and 15th day of July on the 
Mauritania from Liverpool and go directly home. After din¬ 
ner we took a long walk down town and did not get back to 
the hotel until about 8:00. The weather seems to be getting 
more and more like spring each day but there is not much to 
do to keep us busy. 

May 5, 1919:—I went out to the university for a 10:00 class 
this A.M. came back to the hotel and wrote up notes and was 
out to another class at 2:00. After class we played some base¬ 
ball and got back to the hotel about 6:00. Burgess sent us 
some more tobacco from London today, so we are “sitting 
pretty” again. 

May 6, 1919:—I received two letters from the States this 
morning which I immediately answered. I then went out to 
the university for a 10:00 class and then came back to the 
cleaners on Sauchiehall street where I had left my whip-cord 
pants to have them cleaned. After the show tonight I stopped 
in one of the down town stores and bought a few suits of 
pajamas, some light underwear and some socks. At 5:00 I 
cleaned up and then Mongo and Ernest Dewar came up and 
we all went to Danny Brown’s for dinner. We then went to a 
picture show and from the picture show to the Alhambra 
where we saw the “Bing Boys”. 

May 7, 1919:—I got up at 9:00 and got out to school for 
the 11 o’clock class. On my way back I stopped in the hotel 
where I got my whip-cord breeches and took them out to 
Dewar’s to have them altered. When I got back to the hotel 
there was more mail waiting for me. We then went over to 
the ‘Y’ where we received only our month’s pay and not pay 
for our travel expenses. [Paul] Grafe also got a box of candy 
from home which we promptly put away in great style. This 
afternoon I went out to a baseball practice as the boys (Amer- 


304 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


ican) are organizing a team to play the different American 
teams at the different British Universities. 

May 8, 1919:—I got up and went to an 11 o’clock class and 
when I got back the mail man was there with a box from 
home for me but there was a pound and sixteen shillings duty 
on it. I told the mail man to take it back and hold the box 
until Monday. Grafe and I went up to the American Con¬ 
sulate to see about getting rid of the duty on the box. Then 
we had to go to the Customs collecting office but could have 
no luck. On the way to the Waterloo Post Office where we 
had been sent from the Customs collecting office we stopped in 
a pipe store and got two more 3B pipes apiece. The man we 
wanted to see at the Waterloo Post Office was not in so we 
came back to the hotel. At 5:00 I met Miss [Barbara] Wilson 
and we went to Danny Brown’s for dinner, then to the New 
Savoy Tea room where we sat around until 6:45 and then we 
went to the “Passing Show”. It was a very good show and 
we got out at about 9:00. We went to a picture show and then 
I put her on her train and came on home. 

May 9, 1919:—I went to an 11 o’clock class and when I re¬ 
turned to the hotel there was more mail waiting for me. After 
reading my mail I sat down and wrote up notes until time 
for my 2 o’clock class. After class I went to baseball practice 
and got back to the hotel about 6:00. 

May 10, 1919:—I took some cameos down to a jewelers this 
a.m. to have them made into pins and then went to the post 
office to see about my package. I then went over to the ‘Y’ 
where I got a check for rations only, met Grafe and then 
went out to Dewars. At 2:15 we were out on the university 
grounds where we played Edinburgh and were beaten. I 
pitched five innings. 

May 11, 1919:—I spent the morning writing up my school 
notes and also wrote a few letters. [Rudolph] Dellinger who 
had come over with Edinburgh’s ball team came in about 
11:00, and at 1:00 we went down to lunch. After lunch 
Grafe and Dellinger took a walk and I spent most of my time 
writing letters and reviewing my school notes. 

May 12, 1919:—I paid the pound and seventeen shillings on 
my box this morning as I knew it would contain tobacco and 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


305 


I wanted some real American tobacco as the English tobacco 
is not any good. Dellinger left at 11:30 and went back to 
Edinburgh and Grafe and I went out to Dewars where I got 
the whip-cord pants they had altered for me. On the way 
back Grafe stopped at the ‘Y’ and I stopped and bought some 
matches and underwear and then came on to the hotel. I 
went out to the university for a 2 o’clock class and from 3:30 
until 5:30 we practiced baseball. When I came back I wrote 
up school notes and at 6:45 went down to dinner. 

May 13, 1919:—I went to a 10 o’clock class this morning 
and after I got back I changed clothes and went down to the 
Rotary Club with Mongo Dewar for lunch. I then went out 
and bought a few more films for my kodak and then came 
back to the hotel and wrote up some more class notes. At 
6:30 we had dinner and at 7:30 we went out to Mr. Heilbrans’s 
for the evening. Two of Mr. Heilbrans’s brothers who had 
been Colonels in the British Army in Egypt were there and 
they had some very interesting tales to tell. They gave us all 
the liquor we could hold and also a little feed. The leader of 
the Scottish Symphony Orchestra was there and he gave us 
some very fine selections on the violin. We also heard some . 
good singing. For the feed we had sandwiches, cigars, cham¬ 
pagne and cigarettes and the evening was a very pleasant one. 

May 14, 1919:—After my 10 o’clock class this morning I 
walked back to the hotel because the weather is so fine today. 

I then sat down and wrote up notes until 2:00 and then I went 
to another class. Just before baseball practice I ate quite a 
few English walnuts, and playing so hard, I got pretty sick so 
I came back to the hotel early. 

May 15, 1919:—I got up at 8:00, went to a 10:00 class. 
After class I sat down to read a little mail that I received. I 
then wrote up notes until nearly 6:00. 

May 16, 1919:—I got up at 8:00, went to a class and then 
went out to Dewars after another pair of breeches they had 
fixed up for me. When I came back I sat down and wrote up 
some more notes. At 4:30 I went down to the Kodak shop 
where I got some pictures I had developed and then I met 
Grafe, • Mongo, Ernest, Mary and Mr. and Mrs. Dewar and 
Mr. Henderson at the Central Station. At 5:05 we boarded a 


20—22902 



306 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


train and pulled out. We rode about fifteen miles along the 
Clyde River past all the ship building yards, and along a 
beautiful river valley until we arrived at Wemyss Bay. There 
we got off of the train and made a good connection with one 
of the Clyde River passenger boats “Lord of the Isles.” The 
trip down the Clyde was a very pleasant one and more inter¬ 
esting scenery could not be wished for. On the way down the 
river we stopped at Inneland, Toward Point, Craigmore, and 
finally we passed the little place where Harry Lauder has his 
estate. We could see it from the boat and a very pretty place 
it is too. We finally stopped at Rothesay where we all got off 
the boat. There we were met by a machine which Mr. Dewar 
had made arrangements for, and he took us about a five mile 
ride to Port Bannatyne at the Kyles of Bute Hydro. This 
Hydro is far up on a hill overlooking the port and is really a 
very fashionable summer resort. The buildings are very large 
containing a big dance floor, music rooms, dining rooms and 
many private rooms. The place was formerly the Queen Vic¬ 
toria Castle. There we washed up and had a very good dinner 
to start off with. We then sat around in the dance hall and 
watched them for a while until we got tired and then we men 
went out for a walk. We stayed out until it got dark and then 
we came back to our rooms where Mr. Dewar had a little pri¬ 
vate lunch fixed up for us. This place is the most beautiful I 
have ever seen, mountains as a background for Port Banna¬ 
tyne, the sides of which are filled with heather not yet in full 
bloom of purple, plenty of flowers of all kinds, wonderful white 
stone roads and everything as green as it can be. I took sev¬ 
eral pictures before the sun went down and before I leave this 
place I am going to take quite a few more. 

May 17, 1919:—We got up at 7:30 and took a nice little 
walk before breakfast which we had at 9:00. After the 
breakfast we all took our hats and started out, we walked the 
five miles along the Port Bannatyne water front until we 
came to Rothesay. All the way along, the bay is bounded with 
big high walls of concrete and the heavy blue waves pound 
against the walls like they are going to wash them away. The 
street car tracks run along at the top of the walls and on the 
other side of the street the giant big mills tower above so 
that the shadows are cast over the walls out into the bay 
itself. And as one leans on the iron fence at the top of the wall 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


307 


one can see what seems to be miles and miles of this high white 
wall with the bay waters always coming in big waves toward it. 
When we arrived in Rothesay which is the small shopping 
center for the tourists, and naturally lively, we looked all 
through the shop windows and bought some few articles that 
we needed. There is also a wonderful view from the little 
place as it is situated on the point of Rothesay Bay. We spent 
about an hour in the place and then Mr. Dewar took us up to 
the old Rothesay Castle which is now over nine hundred years 
old. It is surrounded by the original old moat that was used 
in by-gone years for protection, and we entered over the old 
draw bridge which is now made stationary for the sake of con¬ 
venience. The walls are about thirty feet high and most of 
them are still standing. In early days the castle had a com¬ 
manding view of Rothesay Bay but as its protection became 
more and more needless the people built around it until now 
it is entirely surrounded by private homes. The castle itself 
is still kept up and protected but in spite of the care it is fast 
going to decay and ruin. We went through the different 
rooms and the guide told us as we went along many historical 
facts connected with each and the castle as a whole. It cer¬ 
tainly is a very interesting place. We then took the car and 
went back to the Hydro where we washed and sat down to a 
good lunch. After lunch we went down to the pier where a 
motor boat was waiting for us. A party of twelve of us 
started out to go through the Kyles of Bute and more won¬ 
derful and impressive scenery I never hope to see. The nar¬ 
row necks of water that we passed through going through the 
Kyles are all marked with buoys so that the boats can keep the 
channel, and the mountains come down from cloudy tops to 
the very sides of our boat. Far up in the Kyles we went 
through the bay of Tighnabruich and also passed the won¬ 
derful little castle of Stevenson’s and many other pretty private 
residences. I also took several pictures on this trip and I cer¬ 
tainly hope they are good. Far up near the narrows of the 
Kyles we stopped and got out of the boat, had a little lunch and 
something to drink and then we again piled in and started 
home where we arrived about 6:30 just in time for dinner. 
After the meal I sat around in front of the Hydro talking to 
the people I had met and then I went into the dance hall and 
watched them dance for a little while. There are certainly a 


308 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


bunch of mighty swell looking girls here, too. At 11:00 our 
party had a little lunch in our room and then I sat and talked 
to Mr. Dewar until about 1:00 when we went to bed. 

May 18, 1919:—We all got up about 8:45 and at 9:00 we 
had a nice breakfast. I then came out in the morning air and 
talked to Mr. Mitchell, a demobilized Scotch officer and Mr. 
and Mrs. McCrea for a long while. Mr. and Mrs. McCrea are 
very elderly people and are down here trying to get away from 
the thoughts of losing their two sons who were killed the day 
the Armistice was signed. The weather has been most won¬ 
derful since we have been down here, the bay is nice and blue 
and smooth and just full of small boats of all kinds. It is a 
beautiful sight to see the boats here on the water because there 
are so many different kinds, yachts, motor boats, three masters 
and many others which, while dotting the bay certainly make 
a picture that one can hardly describe. At 1:00 we had a 
very nice lunch and then again at 2:00 we had tea. Mongo 
Dewar and I then started on a long walk down the railroad 
tracks and finally we came to a good road which we took as 
it was much easier walking. We walked about five miles 
around the hills and within sight of the Isles of Arran, Et- 
trick Bay, and Goatfell which is the second highest moun¬ 
tain in Scotland. At 8:00 we had a dinner and then went to 
the drawing room of the Hydro where we heard some very 
good music. Mongo and Ernest also put on some piano and 
violin music. Mongo had on his best Scotch clothes, kilts and 
everything. After the music was over we all went out for a 
walk but it started to rain and we had to come back. At 11:00 
all the lights go out so we had a little to eat in our room and 
then we all went to bed. 

May 19, 1919:—This morning when we got up it was pretty 
cold but the sun was shining and before the day was over it 
was very nice. The clouds were hanging all around the tops 
of the mountains and one could not see very far. After we 
had eaten breakfast we sat around in front for a while and 
then Mongo, Ernest, Mary, Mrs. Dewar and I took a little 
walk. We started out walking around the bay and before we 
even knew it we were far on the other side of the bay and 
could look across the water and see the old castles of the Hydro 
looming up far in the distance. While on the other side of 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


309 


the bay we went into a big woods and gathered some wild 
flowers and then I had to help Mongo gather some moss to 
pack the flowers in as he wanted to send them away. After 
lunch all of us went in to Rothesay and while I was there I 
met Miss [Barbara] Wilson who was also a “hollidaying” as 
they call an outing or a vacation. I played around Rothesay 
with her [Miss Wilson] all afternoon and then came back to 
the Hydro. Grafe went out motoring with some Scotch peo¬ 
ple that he met while down here. I have been taking several 
pictures and they certainly should be good ones. After the 
dinner we all went to one of the lounging rooms and sat around 
talking until about 10:45 and then we went to our room where 
we had a little to eat before going to bed. Since we have been 
here we have had plenty of music, fine weather and one won¬ 
derful time. 

May 20, 1919:—At 8:30 we got up, had breakfast and then 
started to get all of our junk together so that we could start 
back to Glasgow. After we were all through packing Mongo 
and I went out and gathered some fern roots for his mother. 
We then came back to the Hydro and washed up and then 
watched them play tennis for a little while. We had a little 

lunch at 11:45 and immediately went down to Rothesay Bay 

/ 

where we got on the boat and by 2:15 we were on our way to 
the city of Glasgow. About a two hour ride took us to 
Wemyss Bay, and from there we boarded the train which 
took us into Glasgow. At the station we helped the Dewars 
with their baggage and then caught a car and went up to the 
hotel. The first thing we did was to read the mail that had 
arrived during our absence. 

May 21, 1919:—We did not get up until 9:00 and had to 
hurry and get ready to leave on a little trip with old man Heil- 
bran. He had gone down to the station and as soon as we 
could we went down to the Caledonian Station where we met 
Top’ Jordan the ‘Y’ man, Lieut. Jones and old Mr. Heilbran. 
There we boarded a train and went out to a prize stock farm 
near Gartcosh. The farm was one of the most perfect and 
well kept places I have ever seen. On entering the yard to 
the house one had to look over bed after bed of flowers of all 
kinds. Roads branched off from everywhere and led to all 
parts of the farm, and they were all so nice and white that one 


310 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


just felt like sitting down and playing in the middle of all of 
them. The house stood far back in the midst of all the flower 
beds and was a quaint old place with many little gables stick¬ 
ing up; the place was made of the old dark lime-stone. We 
first made ourselves known to the woman of the house and 
then the daughter took us through all the wonderful barns 
and showed us all the prize horses and cattle that were there. 
Most of the prize stock was in the southern part of England 
at a show; what they had left in the bams was better than 
any I have seen elsewhere. We then came into the house 
where we sat around talking and hearing many Scotch reci¬ 
tations from Miss Chapin. At noon we had a splendid meal 
with plenty to eat and drink and after we had finished we took 
a few pictures and then went over to Mont Ellen, an old 
home which I must say is now 1,000 years old and in a won¬ 
derful state. There we had tea and looked over some very old 
silverware and china ware. At 4:40 we again caught the train 
and went back to Glasgow. [Paul] Grafe and I left the party 
there and went down to the Kodak shop where we got all the 
pictures we had taken while at Port Bannatyne. From there 
we came back to the hotel and at 6:30 we had dinner. At 
7:45 we went down into the big banquet hall of the hotel 
where the Rotary Club is giving a smoker for the American 
students. Two Rotary Club men from the States were there 
and they both gave a talk. Mongo Dewar was dressed up in 
all of his kilts and gave us some good music. Several 
other stunts were pulled off by different members of the 
Rotary Club and the boys could not spend a cent. Drinks 
flowed freely and many of the boys dropped by the wayside. 
About 11:00 they served a big feed and then the party broke 
up. We had a very pleasant evening and got in bed about 
1:30. 


CHAPTER XV 
Travel Over the Isles 

May 22, 1919:—I got up at 8:80, washed, had breakfast 
and then [Benjamin L.] Long and I went on a short shopping 
trip over the town. We finally landed at the ‘Y’ and there we 
found out that some of the boys, along with ‘Pop* Jordan, 
were going on a little trip to Ireland. We immediately made 
arrangements to go along with them leaving at 9:00 P.M. to¬ 
night. Long and I then went over to the Central Station 
where we saw the British R.T.O. and got all the ‘dope’ from 
him that we could concerning our trip. We then came back 
to the ‘Y’ and filled out several blanks which are necessary be¬ 
fore leaving the university and went over to the hotel where 
we got our junk ready to leave. After eating, we went back 
over to the ‘Y’ where we met the rest of the fellows and we all 
started down to the pier where we will board a boat bound for 
Belfast. Glasgow is the farthest point up the Clyde River 
from which boats start out and the piers are only about four 
squares from the Y.M.C.A. Old ‘Pop’ Jordan had telephoned 
down to the piers for berths, so we all went to the office where 
we got our tickets for the same. We then boarded the H.M.S. 
Hound. All over the Isles one can see these letters, H.M.S. 
meaning “His Majesty’s Ship” or “His Majesty’s Shop” or 
“His Majesty’s Store” or His Majesty’s something. We went 
directly down into the dining room where we had a little tea 
and then we came up on deck to watch the boat pull out. It 
was still light when we left Glasgow and we stayed on deck all 
the way down the Clyde. It is now 12:30 and I think we are 
near Wemyss Bay. I am going to bed and get some sleep. 

May 23, 1919:—I woke up about 4:30 and wanted to see 
whether or not we could see land, so I stuck my head out of a 
port hole just in time to get a face full of nice cold ocean water 
and it did not take me long to get it back in again. I got up 
and went to the wash room, cleaned up a little and when I was 
about finished in walked ‘Pop’ Jordan. I waited until he had 
washed up and then we both went out on the deck. The sun 
was out bright, but it was pretty cold so I took a few pictures 


( 311 ) 


312 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


and then went down into the lounging room of the boat. At 
6:30 we all got up and went to breakfast, and at 9:00 we had 
pulled up to the pier at Belfast. We all got off the boat and 
went to the Royal Avenue Hotel where Top' Jordan who takes 
care of the bunch made arrangements for the night. There 
we left our junk and went over to the Belfast ‘Y’ from where 
we are to start on a trip to the Giant Causeway in the north¬ 
ern part of Ireland. By the time we had gotten to the station 
it was 10:00, and we immediately boarded the train and 
pulled out for Portrush. At 12:30 we were in Portrush and 
from there we took automobiles to Kane’s Hotel at the southern 
end of the Giant Causeway. Between Portrush and Kane’s 
Hotel there is some very beautiful scenery as the road leads 
along the coast nearly all the way. We could see the beach all 
the way and the wide stretch of white sand certainly made a 
picture with the big waves rolling in upon them. We also 
passed the ruins of Duncluse Castle which is built on the cliffs 
near the edge of the water. At the hotel we sat down to a 
good meal and then the guides divided the party which was 
made up of Canadians, English, Australians and American sol¬ 
diers and nurses into about eight groups of ten in a group-; 
then we started on the high cliff walk over the Giant Cause¬ 
way. We passed through some of the most wonderful coast 
scenery in the world and finally gained the top of the cliff walk 
which is fully five hundred feet above the water. The guides 
explained everything to us and I had my kodak along and of 
course took many pictures. 

May 24, 1919:—We all got up at 8:30, had breakfast and 
then went over to the ‘Y’ information booth to get the ‘dope’ on 
trains for Dublin. We found out that there was a train at 
2:45 so we checked our baggage and went out for a walk. We 
went through the Belfast City Hall. Their City Hall can not 
be beaten, it is very big and has a big court yard on the in¬ 
side where they have a battery of captured German 77s stand¬ 
ing for the people to see. The people here in Belfast seem to 
have lots of life and the city is very, very clean. We got 
our train at the Great Northern Station and at 2:45 we pulled 
out. We went along the coast for a long way and also through 
some very beautiful scenery, everything seems to be so green 
and pleasant here. The weather has been fine and the sun has 
been shining all the way. At 5:45 we arrived in Dublin and 







































































































Blarney Castle. The seven of us in our party kissed the 
Blarney Stone and were conducted through all parts of the 
Castle. Photograph by Elmer F. Straub. 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


313 


we got to see just a little of the town when we took jaunting 
carts and went through the main part of town to another sta¬ 
tion. The train pulled out for Cork at 7:30. We were on the 
train until 2:30 a.m. and when we got off the train we went 
immediately to the Metropole Hotel where ‘Pop’ Jordan had 
wired ahead for accommodations. We all went directly to bed. 

May 25, 1919:—After breakfast this A.M. we went out to 
see just how we could get to Killarney and the lakes, we could 
have no luck though since few trains run on Sunday. We 
played around until 11:00 and then caught a train going to 
Blarney. The train was one of those little narrow gauge, 
dinky trains, used on Sunday as an excursion train, and it 
took us until 1:00 to get there. The sun was not out and I 
was very much afraid that I would not get a picture of 
old Blarney Castle, but luck was with me and I got one that 
afterward proved to be a good one. We first stopped and had 
something to eat at the little inn near there and then we went 
over to the castle which was built in the 15th century. Of 
course there was none of the young fellows who failed to kiss 
the Blarney Stone but old Top’ Jordan being of a nervous 
nature anyway was a little afraid to make the hang. We en¬ 
tered the castle through a rusty old iron gate at a little door¬ 
way at the rear of the castle and from there passed through 
many winding stairways as we ascended. The old Blarney 
Stone is difficult to reach for one not used to exercise; 
it lies on the underneath side of the overhanging ledge at 
the very top of the castle and to get to it one must lie on one’s 
back, have someone to hold to the feet and then lower about 
three feet to the bottom of the outer ledge. The kiss is an 
ascending proposition. After we had all administered the kiss 
we looked around from the top of the castle and then came 
down. On reaching the bottom we ran into a bunch of Irish 
girls and fellows having a regular picnic. While we were 
watching them they extended us a most cordial invitation to 
join their games, and join we did. We took part in their 
games and partook of their food until about 4:00 when we 
went over to the little station of Blarney and at 4:35 we caught 
the train for Cork. We did not take the narrow gauge back 
to Cork but caught the regular train and by 5:00 we were in 
the station of the now historical city. We immediately went 
to dinner at the hotel and after we had finished eating we 



314 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


took jaunting carts and went all over the town. We saw all 
of the principal places of interest including Queen's College, 
Customs House, the big prison with its high walls and so much 
history connected with it; the river Lee and many other places. 
To top our ride off the drivers told us just where we could hear 
the bells of Shannon so we went up to the church and as luck 
would have it the old keeper was there and he took us to the 
top of the church and played several songs on the bells of 
Shannon for us. The rest of the evening we played around 
in front of the hotel. 

May 26, 1919:—We had to hurry for the 7:15 train this 
a.m. for Killarney but all of us made the grade. We had to 
change trains at Mallow and we got to Killarney about 10:05 
A.M. We immediately got jaunting carts and took a seventeen 
mile drive into the mountains and lakes of Killarney. I count 
this day as the Red Letter Day of the two years I have been 
on this side of the water. The scenery is so very beautiful 
that I can never in words express the wonderfulness of it all. 
The lake scenery of Killarney is certainly the best I have seen 
in Ireland and Port Bannatyne Scotland can not compare with 
it. I took many pictures as the day was bright and sunshiny 
and the men we had driving our jaunting carts made the trip 
the best I have enjoyed so far. We first went through the flat 
country at the base of the mountains and at the half way 
point we stopped at a little cottage and bought some post cards 
and things to send home. We also took pictures of the bunch 
there and they certainly were good ones. On the way back 
our guides sung the typical Irish songs and their brogue put 
a touch in it that can never be duplicated unless under the 
same conditions. The flowers, trees and grass are the most 
beautiful I have ever seen and with a background of red lime 
stone the picture can not be adequately described. Also to my 
surprise among the trees we could see young does and old deer 
roaming leisurely about. When we got back we had our meal 
at the International Hotel, and the food—fresh mutton, but¬ 
ter, eggs, bread, milk, jam, great big biscuits, hot coffee and 
all that one could hold. We no more than finished our meal 
when one of the drivers of the jaunting carts came in to us 
with a big box of shamrock that he had heard some of us 
asking about. At 3:30 we caught the train back to Mallow, 
changed there and at 6:45 we were again in Dublin. Top' 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


315 


Jordan had wired ahead for rooms in a Dublin hotel but since 
we left there has been a hotel strike called and we could get 
no rooms. Mr. Jordan said though that he thought he could 
fix things up, so while he was phoning we ordered a meal in 
the station hotel. However, he soon came back with the news 
that he could get no accommodations here and that we would 
go to the other station here in town and start for Belfast. We 
had but very little time so we canceled the order for the meal, 
got jaunting carts and went directly over to the other station. 
We went into the dining car where all passengers had already 
finished eating and with a little tip got the chefs to prepare 
some meal for us. We had plenty to eat and plenty to drink 
and rode the rest of the way to Belfast in the dining car. We 
arrived in Belfast at 10:15. We immediately went to the 
Royal Avenue Hotel but they were full, so old Top’ called the 
Ellington Hotel; they were full also so he called the Winton 
House where we got fixed up and were in bed by 11:30. I 
think that Belfast is a very, very good town and the most 
Americanized town I have been in on this side. 

May 27, 1919:—After breakfast this a.m. we went out to 
the where we got the 'dope' on all of the spinning mills and 
then we all went out to the biggest mill in Belfast—the Bel¬ 
fast Spinning Mills. We went through the mill and saw 
many pieces of linen in the making. From there we came 
back to the Belfast City Hall where we sat around and 
watched the people until 2:00 p.m. Then we went to a tea 
house and had some lunch. After the lunch we were all 
treated to a ride over Belfast in jaunting carts by good old 
Top' Jordan. We got back to the Thompson place in time to 
eat a good dinner, and then proceeded down toward the boat 
bound for Glasgow. We stayed above deck until after dark 
and then went down to bed. 

May 28, 1919:—Top' Jordan and I got up about 6:30 this 
morning and when we went out on deck, found the boat tied 
to one of the freight piers quite near Glasgow and the crew 
was unloading freight. We did not wait for them to go on up 
to the passenger pier which is about two miles up the river 
but we got off with what little junk we had, walked about three 
squares and caught a car to the Y.M.C.A. When I got back 
to the hotel there was some mail waiting for me. 


316 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


May 29,1919:—I wrote letters this morning and then played 
around the hotel all day long. About 4:00 P.M. I cleaned up 
and was just going to take a walk down town when in came 

Bond and [.] Long (Ben Long’s brother). We 

went over to the ‘Y’ for dinner and the bunch of us went out 
to the Marlborough House where our student detachment is 
giving a big dance. The floor was wonderful, but I only 
danced one dance. We hung around until 2:00 A.M. when the 
dance broke up. 

May 30, 1919:—I got up at 9:00 and after breakfast I went 
out to Dewars after my cap but it was not done, so I came on 
in to the Kodak shop after my Irish pictures, but they were not 
done either. I had nothing to do so I went over to the ‘Y’ where 
Lieut. Webster gave me two suits of pajamas and some other 
supplies that the Red Cross had issued. At 2:00 P.M. our 
whole detachment went out to a grave yard where all the 
soldiers and sailors from the Tuscania are buried and there 
we held a military funeral service over all of their graves. 

May 31, 1919:—I got up at 9:00 and after I had eaten my 
breakfast I went out to the Dewar place after my cap; it was 
not done but I brought it in with me. Then I went out to find 
a tailor who I thought could fix my cap but I could find none. 
I wanted the cap so bad that I took it home and started on it 
myself. I went down to the linen room of the hotel and used 
the sewing machine and about 3:00 I got it finished. I then 
went out and got some gasoline and cleaned my shoes, coats, 
pants and everything else imaginable and played around until 
5:00. 

June 1, 1919:—Bond came over this A.M from Edinburgh 
and stayed with us all day and about 11:00 [Claude C.] Dun¬ 
lop and I went over to the Glasgow Cathedral and the Ne¬ 
cropolis and took some pictures. [Paul] Grafe went out to 
tea some place this afternoon and Bond and I stayed in all the 
afternoon. The weather has been fine and we are enjoying 
our loafing very much. 

June 2, 1919:—During last evening [Chester A.] Miles and 
I decided to go to Stirling Castle so after we had been to the 
Kodak shop we went to the Buchanan Street station where 
at 10:35 we caught a train for Stirling. We were already 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


317 


sitting on the train waiting for it to pull out when they came 
around and told us that the train had been taken off the 
schedule and there would be none until 12:00. We came back 
to the hotel where I wrote some letters and then at 11:00 we 
started down to the station. It took only about an hour to go 
to Stirling and when we arrived there the first thing we did 
was to get some lunch. After we had eaten we went up 
through the town and up the winding steep road to the old 
castle. There we obtained a guide and with his assistance we 
saw and heard all about the castle, its history and all about 
its construction. We walked all around the walls of the place 
and saw many very pretty pictures from the top of it. The 
castle is in a very good state of preservation and is used at 
the present time as a barracks for Scotch soldiers. I took 
several pictures from the top of the place and then Miles and 
I went back down through the town and took the horse cars 
over to the Wallace monument. We caught the 3:35 train 
back to Glasglow. 

June 3, 1919:—I got up at 9:00, ate breakfast and went to 
a 10:00 class. During the afterndon I played around down 
town, got some new service chevrons and then went back to 
the hotel and wrote letters. At 6:30 [Claude C.] Dunlop and 
I went down to dinner and I spent the evening sewing on 
chevrons. 

June 4, 1919:—I got up at 8:00, took a shave, sewed on a 
chevron, ate breakfast and went to class from 10:00 until 
12:00. After I came back I went over to the ‘Y’ a few minutes 
and then took some pictures over to the Kodak store. After 
dinner tonight I took a walk with Ben Long then came back 
to the ‘Y’, then to the hotel, and to bed. 

June 5, 1919:—We got up at 8:00 and Grafe made his 10:00 

class while - Bond [who came over last night] and I 

went to our breakfasts. We caught the 11:00 train for Ayr. 
On arriving at Ayr we went directly to the Burns Cottage or 
Burns’ birthplace and went all through it. We saw several 
things that were used by Burns; also the room he was born 
in and several other things. From there we went out to the 
Burns Monument, Burns Gardens, grave-yard in which his 
people are buried and the Brig-o-Doon. We then caught a 
car back into town where we saw the Tam-o-Shanter Inn, one 



318 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


of Burns’ favorite loafing places, and we were going to eat a 
little feed in it but it was closed until 5:00 P. M. so I caught 
the 4:25 train back to Glasgow. Bond stayed to catch a later 
train to Edinburgh. I stayed at the ‘Y’ for dinner, got an 
issue of cigarettes and then came to the hotel and went to bed. 

June 6, 1919:—When the crowd of twenty of us were all 
ready this a.m. we went over to the Queen Street station and 
caught the train for Aberfoyle. From Aberfoyle we started on 
a three-mile walk through the “Lady of the Lake” country. 
The first place of interest where we made a stop was on the 
top of a big hill overlooking many miles of country before us 
and looming up in the distance was big, stately Ben Lomond. 
We then went on down to a small creek where we made our 
next stop at the Brig-o-Turk. The rest of our three mile 
walk was through all of the historic old Rob Roy Country 
to the lower end of Loch Katrine. There we got very close 
to the old church from where the torch bearer started, and I 
got a good picture of it. I also took several other pictures in 
other places. At the lower end of the Loch we boarded a very 
beautiful little lake boat named “The Sir Walter Scott,” at 
2:30 it pulled out. We first passed Ellen’s Isle and then went 
out into the open lake. The scenery is beautiful and we were 
on the deck of the little boat all the time. We were on the 
boat three-quarters of an hour and finally landed at the upper 
end of Loch Katrine at a little place named Stornachlacker. 
From there we walked five miles over the Trossack Mountains 
to Inversnaid. On the way I took several pictures of peat 
bogs but they were not good. At Inversnaid we saw the 
famous Upper and Lower falls. From there we took another 
boat on which we rode for an hour and three-quarters. Dur¬ 
ing this trip we made several stops and saw many of the inter¬ 
esting points including Ben Lomond, Ben Nevis, Ben Ledi, 
Loch Arde, Garloch, Luss, Loch Voil, Loch Earn and much 
more of the country that Sir Walter Scott wrote about. We 
got off the boat at Balloch and there got on the train to go back 
to Glasgow. We had our dinners on the boat. We got back 
into Glasgow at 7:30. 

June 7, 1919:—We were paid this A. M. I immediately 
changed ten pounds into American money. [Henry D.] Shenk 
and I then took a walk down to the Kodak shop after my Irish 


The Sir Walter Scott. At this place and on this boat we started our trip up Loch Katrine 
while on the lake trip. Photograph by Elmer F. Straub. 





































































































































A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


319 


pictures, but they were not finished. While in the New Savoy 
this P. M. we met a little Scotch lieutenant who could play 
all the latest American music so we went down to a piano 
store and played the piano for awhile. We then came back to 
the hotel and again at 7:00 we met the little lieutenant at the 
Grovesnor Grill room; then went over to the ‘Y’ dance. I 
danced nearly every dance until 11:00; came back to the hotel, 
ate some cheese sandwiches and went to bed. 

June 8, 1919:—During the morning I got some packages 
ready to send home, cleaned up the room, washed a few hand¬ 
kerchiefs and a shirt and then went to bed again. At 5:30 we 
went over to the ‘Y,’ had dinner and then played around in 
Top’ Jordan’s office for awhile. In the evening we took a walk 
down Renfield Street as far as Argyle street. Here the streets 
are spanned and covered by the Central Station and there is 
always a tough bunch of young Scotch hanging around looking 
for trouble. We went down among them to try to get a fight 
out of them but they wouldn’t start anything. 

June 9, 1919:—I got up at 9:00 and after I had eaten my 

breakfast I went over to the ‘Y’ and then-Henderson 

and I went over after my Irish pictures but they were not yet 
done. We then went to several pipe stores and looked at some 
pipes. Mail from the States today brought me three letters. 
Grafe and I were both sitting in the room reading our mail 
when who should come in but [William H.] Bruning; we im¬ 
mediately went down and had lunch. After dinner we went 
to the Grovesnor where we got a few drinks and then to a 
picture show. 

June 10, 1919:—I went over to the Kodak shop this A. M. 
but the pictures were not yet finished. I then went to an 
11:00 class and then back to the ‘Y’ and tried on a pair of 
shoes one of the lieutenants was going to give me to dance in, 
but they would not fit. I then collected my baseball clothes, 
went over to the hotel, put them on, then out to the university 
diamond where our team played Dublin; we got beat again. 
Capt. Bell pitched today’s game and I am supposed to pitch 
tomorrow’s. 

June 11, 1919:—I got up at 8:30, had breakfast and then 
went to a class. Bruning went back to Edinburgh this morning. 



320 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


I stayed through my 10:00 class but came back to the hotel 
and did not attend my 11:00 class. I went after my pictures 
again but the same story, not yet done. I sure gave the old 

boy h-and told him I wanted them the next time I came 

or there would be something doing. I then came back to the 
‘Y’ and wrote a letter to the Customs and Excise office re¬ 
questing that a box that Aunt Lena Piel had sent me come 
through free of duty. We played our second ball game with 
Dublin today and beat them. 

June 12, 1919:—This morning I caught the 8:40 train for 

Edinburg. At the ‘Y’ I met [Rudolph] Dellinger, - 

Hughes, - Bond, [Wilbur R.] Mann, [William H.] 

Bruning and also ran into Grafe. We all stayed at the ‘Y’ 
for lunch and then Bruning and I took a walk out to the uni¬ 
versity. After we had looked around there for awhile we took 
a motor ride out to the Forth Bridge. I will say that the 
Firth of Forth Bridge is about the neatest, biggest bridge I 
have ever seen. We also saw the Edinburgh Castle from the 
outside but they say it holds no charms and is no different 
from any of the other castles on the inside, so did not go in. 
Edinburgh itself is a very beautiful place, clean and lively, 
but it has about the poorest tram or street car system I have 
ever seen. I wouldn’t give the city of Glasgow for ten Edin- 
burghs as far as life is concerned and I wouldn’t give our room 
at the Grand Hotel for one thousand rooms like Bruning’s and 
Dellinger’s. 

June 13, 1919:—After breakfast Bruning and I caught a 
car and came downtown. We stopped at the K. of C. place 
and there I ‘bummed’ the K. of C. man for enough cigarettes, 
chocolate, pipes and chewing tobacco for all the boys at Glas¬ 
gow. I immediately got a taxi and took my box to the station, 
checked it and got the train for Glasgow. I then came on over 
to the hotel where I got Aunt Lena’s box free of duty and then 
I sat down to label some pictures to send home. I also got 
my pictures from the Kodak shop and some Rainbows that 
I had made. 

June 14, 1919:—Grafe did not get up until 12:15 today, so 
we both went over to the ‘Y’ and had some lunch. Miss 
[Dorothy] Perry, [Waldo] Ripple and I then went out and 






A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


321 


bought some food to take on a picnic that we are going on 
tomorrow. 

June 15, 1919:—Grafe and I got up about 7:30 and went 
directly over to the ‘Y’ where we made the rounds awakening 
Miss Perry and all the fellows. When they had all gotten up 
and eaten breakfast we packed a big basket full of food and 
started out. We went out past Keppokkill Golf course to a 
pretty little spot near a creek, and there we had our little 
picnic. We took quite a few pictures and played around until 
noon when we built a fire and ate our food. During the after¬ 
noon we played around and at 5:00 we came in. We then 
went over to the ‘Y’ to a concert given by the picture house 
orchestra; it was very good. All of the fellows are now won¬ 
dering when we will start home. 

June 16, 1919:—I answered some mail this morning that 
came in. At 4:00, after we had played around in the room 
all day Grafe and I went over to the ‘Y’ and from there we 
went to look for pipes. We went to about fifteen different 
stores and bought two pipes and then came back to the *Y’ and 
sat around the piano while Miss Perry played. At 8:00 Miss 
Perry, Grafe and I went to Cranston’s Picture House and saw 
the show. 

June 17, 1919:—We were through at 12:00 today. Miles, 
Grafe and I then took a walk downtown, but on Tuesday as 
on one of the other days of the week, most of the stores are 
closed. Grafe and Miles then took a walk up to the New 
Savoy and I went on over to the ‘Y’ where I played around 
until 6:00 when we had dinner. After supper this evening I 
took a walk up Renfield and over Sauchiehall street to the 
hotel. There I washed a few handkerchiefs and a pair of 
puttees and then went to bed. 

June 18, 1919:—We got up at 9:00 and after eating break¬ 
fast Grafe and I started out after pipes again. We got several 
and did some other shopping at the same time. After dinner 
Top’ Jordan, Grafe and I went to a picture show. It was no 
good at all so we left early and came back to the ‘Y’ where we 
all went down to the dance. I danced one dance, then came 
home and went to bed. 

June 19, 1919:—This morning we straightened up, cleaned 


21—22902 


322 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


clothes and then we both took our suits down to the linen 
room and pressed them. About 3 o’clock Grafe and I went 
down town and did some shopping and went to a picture show. 
After dinner, Grafe wrote some letters and I wrote a short 
essay for my course in Economics. We later went to Miles 
and Long’s room and tore it up. We hung pajamas and bed 
clothes on the chandeliers and emptied all the drawers out on 
the floor and then we came back to our room and went to bed. 

June 20, 1919:—We got up at the usual time and after we 
had eaten breakfast we went downtown where we engaged 
a taxi and ordered some flowers for tonight. Our student de¬ 
tachment is giving another dance at the Marlborough House 
tonight and we are taking three little American girls who live 
here in Glasgow. They are only kids but if we did not take 
them they would not get to go and they dance down at the *Y’ 
all the time, so Grafe and I decided to take them. We then 
stopped in at the ‘Y’ where we had to fill out some new sort 
of blanks and then we went back to the hotel. All afternoon 
we played around the hotel and about 5:00 Grafe went down 
after the flowers and I went over to the Kodak shop after 
some pictures. We then met down town and went to the Salon 
for dinner then came back to the hotel, got a box of candy for 
the girls’ mother and got our coats. We then took our taxi 
and went after the girls. The dance started at 8:00 P. M. and 
lasted until 2:00 A. M. ; everyone seems to have had a very fine 
time. 

June 21, 1919:—During the morning I gave a pair of my 
shoes a coat of saddle soap, and cleaned up in general. I took 
Miss Courtney home from the dance tonight and then came 
back to the *Y’ and talked to ‘Pop’ Jordan for awhile. He 
sails on the 12th of July. 

June 22, 1919:—I received some mail from the Customs and 
Excise office this A. M. saying they would refund my pound 
and seventeen shillings I paid as duty on the box that Dad 
sent me. I then saddle-soaped my shoes again and washed up 
a couple of pair of socks. We are afraid to send anything to 
the laundry any more because we are expecting to leave nearly 
any time from now on. 

June 23, 1919:—After I had read my mail this A. M. I went 


A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


323 

down to the linen room where I pressed my coat and a few 
handkerchiefs and then made some light collars to wear with 
my suit. When I got back to the room there were several 
letters and my battle clasps waiting me. I went down to the 
Parcel Post office this P. M. to try to get the duty refund that 
is due me but I could have no luck. I then went over to the 
‘Y’ where I played around and had dinner. 

June 24, 1919:—After class this morning I went over to the 
Customs Office again where I tried to get my refund but had 
no luck. I then went over to the ‘Y’ to see just what the bulle¬ 
tins had to say and I found out that we could not leave the 
town any more after June 25th, over twenty-four hours at a 
time. [Paul] Grafe and I went down to the Rotary Club 
where we saw Mr. Dewar who had come back up from Norfolk 
to see us for the last time before we leave. Mr. Dewar’s whole 
family is down at their summer home at Rosard Ringstead, 
their estate at Norfolk, England. On the way down to the 
Rotary Club I took a California girl to the train and also got 
a date with her for our next big dance. We got out to Mr. 
Dewar’s home where he took us after we had met him and 
there we had a regular lunch and talked until about 10:30 
when we left and came back to the Rotary Club with Mr. De- 
war while he took care of some business. We again went out 
to Mr. Dewar’s home and there we stayed until 2:00 a. m. We 
thanked him very much for all he had done for us, promised 
to write him and then left and got in bed about 2:45. 

June 25, 1919:—I went up to see-Henlore this A.M. 

and made arrangements for the dance tonight. My girl is going 
to stay with his girl tonight, and her home is very close to the 
Marlborough House so we will not have to have a taxi. I met 
Henlore at the ‘Y’ at 8:45 and we caught a car and went 
out for our girls. The dance was a 'peach,’ the farewell dance 
given by the detachment and it was light when we started 
home. One nice thing about Glasgow in the summer time is 
that it stays light late, and never gets real dark during the 
night, and gets light very early in the morning. Fact is we 
can read a newspaper at our hotel window at 11:00 P. M. and 
by 3:00 A. M. it is again daylight. We walked home with our 
girls and then caught a special street car that the detachment 
had arranged for and I went back to the hotel. -Bond 


22—22902 




324 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


was over from Edinburgh and he stayed with us all night. 
When we got in bed it was 4:15. 

June 26, 1919:—We did not get up until 1:00 P. M. and then 
we washed and dressed and went over to the ‘Y’ canteen where 
we got ham, eggs, coffee, cakes and sausage for our meal. 
After the show I walked down to the Empire Theater with 
[Chester A.] Miles while he bought tickets for tomorrow 
night’s show; we then went back to the ‘Y’ where we hung 
around until 6.00 when we had dinner. 

June 27, 1919:—I played around the ‘Y’ this morning 
until 12:30, when I had lunch. Miles and I then went to an¬ 
other good picture show, and after the show we went back to 
the hotel, washed up and came over to the ‘Y’ for dinner. At 
7:30 I had a date with Miss Courtney and while waiting for 
her met Miss [Barbara] Wilson and I made another date with 
her. We first went up to the Savoy Tea Room where we had 
something to eat and then we went to the second show at the 
Alhambra. The ‘snow’ is out that we go home in the very 
near future and that we go directly from here. 

June 28, 1919:—I did not get up until 11:00. I received 
a check for the one pound and seventeen shillings this morn¬ 
ing. After the meal the usual session gathered in Top’ Jor¬ 
dan’s office and we played around there until about 7:30 when 
I took charge of the mail office for awhile. When I had been 
relieved I went back in the hall and listened to one of the girls 
playing the piano. At 8:15 I went down stairs to the dance 
and there I stayed until 11:15 when I went into the canteen 
and had some eggs and sausage before going home to bed. 

June 29, 1919:—I got up just in time for breakfast this 
morning and after I had eaten I went over to the ‘Y’ where 
I took a few pictures. I had lunch there and then helped 

Lieut.-Anthony to try to get up another dance. One 

can always find plenty to do at the ‘Y’ as there are any num¬ 
ber of Scotch people who are there all the time to do anything 
they can to help the boys out. 

June 30, 1919:—I got up at 9:15, took a good wash and 
cleaned up and went over to the ‘Y’ to get a few more pictures 
of the ‘Y’ staff, etc. After lunch, Grafe and I went to a picture 
show. When we came back to the ‘Y’ we sat down and had 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


325 


some tea and cakes with some of the *Y’ girls (Scotch). I 
have a pretty bad cold and feel a little ‘bum.’ All of the boys, 
in fact everyone, even the ‘Y’ men are all ready to leave for 
home and we are all glad. Not because we do not like the 
place, but we are just getting enough and want a change— 
Home. 

July 1, 1919:—This morning I received a little mail. They 
had a real farewell party last night for [James?] Henderson 
who was unfortunate enough to have to go all the way back to 
his outfit which is still in Germany. Liquor did away with 
all of their sorrows. I took a walk over to the ‘Y’ to see what 
was doing and I found a sign up saying that we would be 
paid at 3:00 P. M. this afternoon but when Grafe and I went 
over later we saw a sign that we would not be paid until 10:30 
tomorrow morning. At 4:45 I went down to the Cranston 
Lounging Room where I met Miss [Barbara] Wilson and we 
immediately went up to the dining room and had dinner. Then 
we went to the King’s Theater and saw “A Pair of Spectacles,” 
which was fair. I then took my girl down to the train and 
sat down with her until the train pulled out. Five fellows out 
of the detachment got orders to report back to their detach¬ 
ments in Germany and they leave tomorrow morning. 

July 2, 1919:—At 10:30 this A. M. we were paid. I called 
up Miss Wilson and got a date for tonight. Grafe and I then 
made up some more parcel post packages and sent them home. 
At 4:30 I met Grafe at Cranston’s and we went out and got 
some more pipes and then at 5:00 I met Miss Wilson and we 
went to the Cranston lunch room and had dinner. After the 
meal we went to the Cranston Picture House and saw a good 
picture and then we went up to the New Saxon Picture House 
and saw another good picture. About 10:20 we went down 
to the station and I put Miss Wilson on the trian and said 
good-bye to her. I went back to the hotel; there Grafe and 
I started packing as we leave tomorrow. We made some more 
parcel post packages and packed 'junk’ until 3:30 A. M. and 
then we had the night porter bring us a pot of tea and some 
toast and then went to bed. During our stay here we have 
had some very, very good times and we could not have been 
treated better by the Scotch people. We are glad that we are 
leaving because we are now on our way home to once more 



326 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


become a human being—out of uniform. We have traveled 
quite a lot and have seen the greater part of a country that is 
so crammed full of history that one can never look at a thing 
without being reminded that it played such and such a part in 
the life of some well-known historical character. Our thoughts 
now are on our homes where we hope to be before very long. 
Good-bye to Scotland! 


CHAPTER XVI 
Homeward Bound 

July 3, 1919:—We all got up about 7:00, had breakfast 
and then got all of our ‘junk’ down stairs, [Chester A.] Miles, 
[Benjamin L.] Long, [Claude C.] Dunlop, [John C.] Max¬ 
well, [Paul] Grafe and I then got a taxi and had our stuff 
taken over to the *Y. 9 There it was picked up by a big van 
and taken down to the station and the whole detachment fol¬ 
lowed it. I am carrying a meusette bag and a pack, my ditty 
bag I have with the rest of the baggage. Every girl from the 
‘Y’ was down at the station to see us off; we had two special 
cars on the train for our special purpose. At 10:00 our train 
pulled out for Liverpool. We were on the train until 7:00 
and then Grafe and I took charge of the baggage. We first 
unloaded it from the train onto a truck and then we unloaded 
it at the docks and took our own stuff down to our bunks on 
the boat. Immediately after we were all on the boat we had 
a good mess, and then Grafe and I made our beds. We are on 
the U. S. Transport ‘Plattsburg it is a very nice boat, clean 
and comfortable, but small, so I suppose we are not due to 
cross in this. 

July 4, 1919:—I got up about 8:00 and went up to the wash 
room and took a shave. I have no salt water soap and one 
certainly has a time without it when one has to use salt water 
to wash with. We played around deck until noon and then 
we had noon mess after which twelve of we fellows helped the 
sailors carry food from the bottom of the boat to the kitchen. 
For the work we got apple pie, cake and olives. Today the 
sun is shining very bright and over the tops of these piers we 
can see the masts of many boats which are coaling up getting 
ready for their trips. This afternoon there are a great many 
soldiers and their war brides getting on the boat. About 2:00 
Top' Jordan and quite a few of the American ‘Y’ women got 
on the boat and put out oranges and cigarettes to the boys. 
At 3:30 [Paul] Grafe, [Paul] Hausmann, [Henry D.] Shenk 
and I went up town. We first had some ice-cream and a good 
dinner and then we went over to the ‘Y’ where we wrote some 


( 327 ) 


328 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


post cards and then we all went to the Empire Theater. After 
the show Grafe and I came back to the boat but we could not 
get on as they were moving it, so we sat around on the Nelson 
Pier for about an hour and at 10:30 we got on. It was still a 
little light when we crawled into our bunks. 

July 5, 1919:—I did not get up until 9:00, too late for 
breakfast, so I ate some candy from the ship canteen and then 
went up and took a good wash and shave. I had nothing to 
do so I played around on deck all morning until 12:00 when 
we had noon mess. During the early part of the afternoon I 

slept and then-Henderlite and I went up to Liverpool. 

We played around town for a while and then had dinner at the 
“Bear’s Paw” and then came back to the boat. The town was 
very crowded and airplanes were doing all kinds of stunts 
over the town, as Liverpool had a Victory March today. When 
we got back to the boat the boys from London University were 
getting on the boat and it is getting pretty crowded. Top' 
Jordan and Miss [Dorothy L.] Perry were both on the boat 
today to see the fellows. The Lapland and the Carmania are 
lying near us coaling up for their trip, the latter is loaded with 
Canadian soldiers bound for home. The day has been sunshiny 
and bright. During the evening we sat around on the deck 
talking and smoking and about 10:00 we got a sandwich and 
then went to bed. Living conditions on this boat are pretty 
fair, food very good and it is much better than when we came 
over. 

July 6, 1919:—I got up in time for breakfast this morning 
and it was very good, after I had eaten I went up to the wash 
room and took a shave and then came up on deck. It is get¬ 
ting very monotonous on board now, all shore leave was 
stopped at 10:00 this morning. We all are getting anxious to 

pull out. Top’ Jordan and Miss-Frazier were both on 

board today. The sun was not out but the weather was very 
pleasant. We had a very good noon mess and during the after¬ 
noon we played around on deck and had an issue of Red Cross 
cigarettes, matches and oranges. The Lapland and the Car- 
mania both pulled out this afternoon. We had mess at 4:30 
and then spent a long, uneventful evening up on deck. About 
10:00 Grafe and I went up to the kitchen and stole a cold beef 
sandwich, we have been eating candy all day long and I sup- 




A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


329 


pose we are due for the sick list tomorrow. I am also breaking 
in one of my new pipes. All kinds of cigarettes can be bought 
in the ship’s canteen. The men spend nearly all of their time 
reading and play cards. They also finished coaling this boat 
this afternoon. 

July 7, 1919:—I got up for a good breakfast this morning 
and after I had finished I went up to the wash room and 
cleaned up. [William H.] Bruning and I then came up to the 
upper deck and sat down and talked for awhile. The sailors 
are cleaning up all the decks this morning and the dope is 
that we leave at 4:00 P. M. this afternoon. We played around 
all morning and at noon went down to a good mess, then dur¬ 
ing the afternoon we prepared for leaving. At 4:00 we 
pulled away from the docks and went into the basin where 
we were held until 7:30 when high tide was in, and the basin 
gates could be opened. Tugs then took us out of the basin. 
Hardly any of we fellows ate any mess as we were all up on 
the deck watching them pull us out. When we finally got out 
into the channel we started under our own power. Everyone 
had to put on their life belts and we had plenty of music. 
Very strict rules were put out concerning the decks we could 
use. The officers are living in no better quarters than the en¬ 
listed men have. At 9:00 P. M. we were all chased down into 
the hold and were allowed on deck no more. Grafe and I 
then went to bed. 

July 8, 1919:—At 9:30 last night all the lights were turned 
out and all on board raised a howl but it did no good. We got 
up about 8:00, had breakfast and then I took a very miserable 
shave in salt water. I went up on deck and got a seat for 
awhile. During the morning I played around all over the deck. 
At noon we had a good mess and after mess we all went up on 
deck again. All the war brides were up on the deck and believe 
me I would rather take five more years in the army than a 
war bride. I will have to say, though, that the girls got no 
better pick than the fellows did. All afternoon we sat up on 
deck and the weather was fine, sun shone bright all day long. 
I took several pictures and at 4:00 [Paul] Hausmann and I 
went to evening mess and then to the wash room where we 
cleaned up a little. The ocean has not been at all rough and 
thus far the trip has been a very pleasant one. The mine 


330 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


sweepers have been out at the sides of the boat all day long. 
All baggage is being brought to the top deck in preparation to 
unloading at Brest, France. We are supposed to arrive there 
at 9:00 tonight. Grafe and I stood way up on the top deck 
for about an hour and finally we pulled into Brest. There are 
twelve American boats here in the harbor and they are all 
coaled up and ready to pull out. Some of them are taking on 
troops for the States now. Just before we went to bed there 
was a big fight down in the hold where we sleep between the 
sailor guard and a few of our fellows. Every night the boys 
have gone down on the hatchway that leads farther down into 
the hold and have had a nice crap game. This old sailor boy 
had nice picking, he would come down under protection of a 
‘.45' and would walk right into the midst of the bunch of 
fellows, pick up the money and remind them that they were 
not allowed to shoot craps on the boat. Twice before the fel¬ 
lows had asked him in a nice way to give the money back but 
he would not, so tonight we all framed on him. The boys 
were all shooting craps and all kinds of money was on the floor, 
finally down came Mr. Sailor Guard. He did not say a word 
but walked into the bunch and started to pick up the money. 
As he was stooping over two fellows grabbed both of his hands, 
another fellow grabbed '.45’ and dropped it out a port hole 
into the bay and then about twenty fellows took their turn at 
taking a poke at him. He fell in a heap and started to yell but 
the boys soon put him to sleep with a few well-placed blows 
on the end of his nose. About two minutes after it happened 
four of the ships officers were down in the hold, with their 
‘.45s’ drawn but all of the fellows were lying in their bunks 
as if nothing had happened. Of course they tried to get some 
information but no one would give it and they soon left. The 
sailor guard had come out of his dream while they were talk¬ 
ing and as luck would have it he followed the officers up the 
steps, or rather started to. He only got his foot on the first 
step when somebody hit him and really I think about three 
hit him before he could yell again. The fellows who did it 
could not be found although one of them went into my bunk 
and I’ll swear I have been the only one in it this evening. The 
officers came down again and looked all over our end of the 
compartment but they could have no luck. When they were 
gone I went to the drinking water stand and washed a swelled 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


331 


thumb that I have because when I hit I didn’t hit straight and 
now I have a badly sprained thumb. 

July 9, 1919:—We all got up at five, had breakfast, washed 
up and then we started to unload into a smaller boat. After 
the whole detachment was ashore we assembled in two’s and 
marched three miles to Camp Pontanezen. The walk was a 
long one, or so it seemed and the boys were pretty well all in 
when they got there. When we got to the camp we were as¬ 
sembled in a big square lot and from there we went to mess. 
Nearly all of us washed up in a big wash house, and I even took 
a shave and now we are waiting to see what they are going to 
do with us. Brest doesn’t seem to be a bad camp at all, plenty 
to eat, canteens, a carnival and good living conditions. About 
4:30 we went over to have a medical examination, but we 
had to wait in line so long that they sent us back. We then 
went over to mess, after mess we went back over and had our 
medical examination and got a lot of ‘dope’ as to what we 
would go through while here. We were assigned tents for the 
night and also put in Casual Company No. 2727, which takes 
in nearly all of our detachment. We have nothing to do now 
so we are going over to the carnival for awhile. From there 
Grafe and I went over to the Salvation Army canteen, then 
over to the ‘Y,’ and then back to our tents to bed. 

July 10, 1919:—I did not get up until 9:00, too late for 
breakfast, but when I did get up I took a good wash and then 
came back to the tent and read a new Herald. All morning 
we sat around talking and smoking and I slept for a little 
while. At noon we all lined up and went over for mess. They 
are working very fast with our records and pay checks and 
this afternoon we move over to another camp. From noon 
mess time on until 2:30 we sat around with nothing to do, and 
then we lined up with all of our equipment and marched about 
a mile to Camp No. 6. There we got into real barracks, were 
assigned bunks and at 3:00 we all went over for a bath. We 
then went through the long line just like cattle, threw the 
underwear that we had on away, and went on in to the bath. 
The bath was a ‘peach’ too, really it was about as laughable as 
one could wish for. One man stood at the door and gave us a 
little talk as to how we were to take the bath and then he gave 
the signal for water, when the water came it was so hot that 


332 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


we could not stand under it. Hot water came for three min¬ 
utes and then the man at the door gave the order to open soap 
boxes and soap up. That we did but the soap was not soap, 
just like the bath was not a bath, it was some kind of a cootie 
‘dope/ Nearly all of our fellows had scrubbed themselves lily- 
pure while in school and this stuff really made one think he 
would be dirtier after coming out than before he went in, so 

they all yelled for the man at the door to go to h-and turn 

on some real water. Three minutes more and the order came 
down to cease soaping and the hot water came again. Every¬ 
body yelled but it did no good and two minutes later cooler 
water came, but it was not cooler, it was cold, and everybody 
yelled again but no better luck. All water was then turned off 
and we filed out the other end of the bath house, passed some 
big counters, got new underwear and sox, and anyone wanting 
new 0. D. clothing could get it. No one would stop for new 
0. D. clothing as we were all afraid of getting into some other 
trick place. Before we could all get fully dressed we were 
chased out and we had to put our puttees on out in the middle 
of the road. On the outside of the bath house one could see 
fellows standing and staring at the place wondering how on 
earth man could get such wonderful (?) ideas into their 
heads. Paul Hausmann and I then went back to the barracks. 
At 6:00 we went to mess and after mess we sat around and 
watched the trucks come in that were supposed to have our 
barrack-bags on them. Grafe and I finally got ours. We went 
to bed about 11:00, but some of the men stayed up all night 
working on pay rolls, passenger lists, service records and every 
other kind of paper work one can imagine. 

July 11, 1919:—We all got up at 6:00, lined up and went 
down to breakfast. After breakfast we all turned in salvage 
clothes, etc., drew new equipment in everything we needed, 
and signed up papers ready to leave, or rather so we were told. 
Everybody rolled and packed their packs and then instead of 
leaving we were marched over to a big building where our 
packs were inspected. There they told us all that we were 
allowed to have in our packs and said that we could not leave 
the place if we had any other article than that in them. At 
12:00 we went to mess and then all afternoon we lay around 
the barracks, smoking, reading and getting things organized. 



A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


333 


At 6:00 P. M. we had our evening mess and then we had a 
little Q. M. issue. 

July 12, 1919:—We all got up at 7:00 this morning, had 
breakfast and then came back to the barracks where we sat 
down to take a smoke. About 9:00 I took charge of some 
paper work and with the help of about ten other fellows we 
finished by noon. After noon mess I got in a canteen line 
where I got some cakes and cigarettes. During the afternoon 
more equipment was issued and now we are nearly fully 
equipped. Nearly all of our paper work is finished. Tomor¬ 
row noon will see us all ready to board a boat. After evening 
mess we were paid in American money, the first American 
money I had received since I have been on this side. After we 
were paid we were marched over to the camp headquarters 
where we had to swear to affidavits for travel from an Ameri¬ 
can camp to our destination. [Thomas] Jolly, Grafe and I then 
stopped in the Salvation Army canteen for a little while, and 
then we came back to the barracks where we sat around, eat¬ 
ing, smoking and talking until about 11:00 when we went to 
bed. 

July 13, 1919:—I got up at 7:00 and went directly over to 
breakfast. I then went over to the wash house and took a good 
wash and shave, then the rest of the morning I sat around the 
barracks smoking, talking and having nothing to do. We 
were paid today, commutation of rations for the first two days 
of July, and then went to mess. 

July 14, 1919:—I got up for breakfast, washed up and then 
helped to police the barracks. This being a casual company 
we have hardly anything to do, so we do nothing but sit around 
and talk and smoke. At 9:30 [Henry] Shenk, Grafe and I 
took a walk up to the Vermont Hut, the ‘Y’ where I met a 
‘Y’ girl from Ohio who knew several people that I know. We 
played around there until 11:00 and then started back to the 
barracks. I stopped in the Salvation Army canteen where I 
bought several things that I needed. At 6:00 we had mess 
and then the whole company formed in squads the way we will 
go over the gang-plank to the boat. After the formation, 
chocolate was passed out to the fellows. One student detach¬ 
ment, casual company, left today. 


334 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


July 15, 1919:—Up until 11:00 we played around the bar¬ 
racks today. At noon we had a very fine meal, and then the 
whole company lined up and we went over after another bath. 
This bath was about the same as the other one we took and I 
believe we are getting dirtier from them all the time. We also 
got our sailing orders this morning and we all have to be on 
Pier No. 5, at 8:00 A. M., July 18th, next Friday. There we 
will board the U. S. S. Martha Washington (and I want to 
say right now that the Martha Washington is not the George 
Washington, the president's boat.) 

July 16, 1919:—All morning we lay around the barracks 
and at 11:00 [Claude C.] Dunlop and I went over to the sales 
commissary and got some new cards and some cakes. We re¬ 
ceived orders today to leave tomorrow morning at 6:00 in¬ 
stead of Friday. After eating, Grafe and I went over to the 
wash house and took a good wash and shave and cleaned up as 
much as we could in preparation of our leaving tomorrow 
morning. Some of the boys, including myself, then got hungry 
so we all started out to find food. I landed at a kitchen not far 
from our barracks but they would give me no food. As I went 
out the door I noticed a small sized keg and I thought possibly 
it might be pickles so I picked it up and brought it over to the 
barracks. The rest of the fellows had already gotten back 
and some of them were eating, but when I opened my keg and 
found that it was filled with great big stuffed olives they sure 
“dug in" right. 

# 

July 17, 1919:—We all got up at 4:00 A. M., had breakfast, 
washed, and then gave the barracks a very thorough policing. 
That took us until 5:00 A. M. and then we got our junk to¬ 
gether and lined up in front of the barracks. At 6:00 A. M. 
fifteen Casual Companies started off from Camp Pontanezen 
and hiked down to the docks at Brest. Having all our junk 
along the hike seemed long and it was very hot, but since we 
are homeward bound the boys didn't kick at all. On the way 
down we passed a French circus and the boys all yelled and 
gave the ‘Frogs’ the ‘dickens’ as they went by. At the docks 
the boys fell out of the column of squads into single file in the 
order that their names appeared on the passenger list. We 
went through the gate answering with our first name as our 
last name was called. We went directly on to a small French 


\ 



A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


335 


harbor boat, when it was filled up we pulled away from the 
docks. There was a band playing all the time and the fellows 
certainly did yell as we pulled away from the docks. We 
were then taken out to the ‘Martha Washington .' We were the 
last ones to get on board and all of us are on ‘C' deck where, 
thank goodness the ventilation is good. We went immediately 
to our bunks; Grafe has a lower and I am just above him. 
There is practically no room for one to move around. Like all 
other transports, conditions are as poor as they can be; we 
had to stand in the mess line two hours before we got a thing 
to eat. The food is very, very poor and the system of feeding 
is worse yet. At 1 :00 P. M the boat started and Grafe and I 
did not even go up on deck until about 3:00, and by 4:00 we 
were out of sight of land. Since our feeding system and food 
at noon gave such good promise of being real rotten, Grafe and 
I decided to look up some detail work that would give us good 
food or at least a good place to sleep. I went out first in search 
of a detail while Grafe stayed at the bunks and watched the 
junk. I had no luck so I came back and left Grafe go while I 
watched the junk. Someone always has to watch the baggage 
for if it is left alone a minute there will be none left. He was 
gone about an hour and finally came back with the 'dope' that 
he had a detail for twelve men, so we immediately got the 
poker players together. With only the poker players we could 
not make twelve men, so we went over the Edinburgh bunch 
and got [William H.] Bruning and some more of them. The 
detail was made up of Grafe, Bruning, [E. E.] Flowers, [Wil¬ 
liam] Butler, [Thomas] Jolly, [-] Moores, [Henry D.] 

Shenk, [-] Bond, [Rudolph] Dellinger, myself and several 

others that I do not remember. Our work is this: We have to 
scrub the mess hall on deck ‘C' down once a day and also 
sweep it after each meal. For that work we get a table in 
the sailors' mess hall with sailors' food, which is very good, 
also we have dishes to eat from and we do not have to stand in 
the mess line and wait for our food. Every soldier on board 
has to put on overalls to protect his clothing, these overalls 
are issued to us. During the rest of the afternoon we sat 
around on deck. At 5:30 we all went down to our table, one 
of the fellows drew our food for us and after we had eaten we 
went up on deck again. This boat is not a large one, it carries 
only about twenty-six hundred troops, and she rolls quite a 




336 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


bit even now, and the water is as smooth as it can be. We 
had not been away from the table very long before I started 
to get sick so I went down to my bunk. I did not take off my 
clothes but I piled in and lay down, and my sickness soon went 
away. Grafe got in with the Chief Petty Officer of the boat 
and he is taking care of our baggage for us. 

July 18, 1919:—The twelve of us got up and had our break¬ 
fasts at 7:30 and at 10:00 when all the mess lines were 
through we got the brooms, brushes and squeegee and cleaned 
the place up. We also have a hose that we attach and get a 
three-inch stream of salt water with which we wash the deck 
after sweeping it at about 11:00 after breakfast is over. We 
all take our shoes and sox off and do not get at all wet. It 
takes about thirty minutes of our time after each meal and 
then we are free to go where we please. After we got through 
this morning I went down to my bunk because we are in the 
open sea now, and this old tub certainly can roll and I have to 
watch out or I’ll be feeding the fish. At noon we had a very 
fine meal and after we had swept out we all went up on deck. 
About 2:00 P. M. we hit a rain storm, so we all came down to 
our bunks. We were, however, soon through the storm and 
now the sun is out bright again. The fellows on board have 
a great deal of liberty compared with what we had when I 
came over; no life belts and only a little irregular ship drill 
that our little detail does not have to stand. I stayed in my 
bunk until evening mess time and then came up and partook 
of the good evening meal. After the meal we swept the deck 
out and then went forward on the top deck where we stayed 
until about 9:00 and then we went down and went to bed. I 
have not gotten sick yet and am feeling fine so I suppose I am 
good for the trip. 

July 19, 1919:—I got up at 5:30 and went to the wash room 
and cleaned up before any of the rest of them were up. At 
7:30 we had our breakfast and then we washed out the room. 
Many of the boys on board now are sick and the decks cer¬ 
tainly get to be a sight because some of them do not get to 
the rail in time. During the rest of the morning we stayed 
up on the very top deck, “the hurricane deck,” and at noon we 
came down and had our lunch and then swept the place out. 
All during the afternoon we lay up on the deck sunning our- 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


337 


selves, with nothing to do but enjoy the roll of the boat and 
the fresh sea breeze. About 4:00 we ran into two big schools 
of dolphins and we watched them for a long while. They can 
swim faster than any fish I have ever seen and they certainly 
can dive. From the boat we could see them well, they would 
swim about one hundred feet at an awful rate under water and 
then out they would come and make a dive of about ten to 
thirty feet. They are shaped just like a cigar and dive in little 
groups of from one to five. At 5:30 we went down and had 
our mess and then swept the place out. [Paul] Grafe, [Wil¬ 
liam] Bruning, [-] Johnston, [-] Kennedy and I then 

went aft (the rear) where we sat by the rail until about 8:30 
and then we came down to our compartment and went to bed. 

July 20, 1919:—I got up at 5:00 and took a good wash and 
shave before breakfast; it was rainy and stormy when I got up 
but before we had finished eating breakfast the sun was out, 
shining brightly. During the morning all we did was lie 
around on the deck and at noon we had a very good meal. 
After sweeping the place out we went back on deck and played 
around until time for the evening meal. We generally stay on 
deck until about 8:00 and then we go down to bed. Most of the 
fellows are getting over their seasickness now and the bunch 
has livened up quite a bit since they are organized. We never 
take our clothes off when we go to bed as there is no place to 
put them after we do take them off. 

July 21, 1919:—I got up at 6:00, had breakfast with the 
bunch and then we scrubbed out. It is sunshiny and bright 
this morning, but very rough. It is common to see the top 
main deck awash and nearly every fellow who has been on 
deck has had a good ducking. The old tub is certainly rocking 
and rolling this morning and when one goes out on deck one 
has to be careful and hold on. We have had one issue of 
candy, gum and tobacco from the ‘Y’ and the ‘K. C.’ since we 
have been on the boat. This morning while I was on the deck 
I saw a flying fish, the first one I have seen in my life. After 
the noon meal we again went up on the upper deck; they have 
stopped the soldiers from going on the forward deck during 
this rough weather as it is nearly always awash. After eve¬ 
ning mess we again swept out and then we all went to bed. 

July 22, 1919:—It was still very rough this morning when 




338 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


I got up and when we ate breakfast we had a fellow standing 
at the upper and lower end of the table to keep it from sliding 
around. After breakfast was over we washed the place out 
and then we all went up on the hurricane deck and stayed there 
the rest of the morning. At noon we had a good mess and then 
we had to wash the place out again as the spray had come in 
so much that the floor was a sight. Then, too, when the fellows 
who have to wait in the mess line do get their food they can 
hardly stand up with it, and the floor gets about half of their 
food. All afternoon we spent up on the hurricane deck and by 
evening mess time it had become very much quieter, but was 
still white-capping. After the evening mess we again went 
up on ‘A’ deck where we stayed until about 8:00 P. M. when 
we came down and went to bed. We only take off our overalls 
when we go to bed. 

July 23, 1919:—When I got up this morning the water was 
just like glass and so it remained all day long. The sun was 
shining very bright and it was very pleasant out on the deck. 
I have seen sea gulls every day since we have been out. We 
have to wash the decks down twice a day now as a result of 
some foolish army order—not a navy order. During the day 
we spent most of our time up on the top deck, reading, smok¬ 
ing, playing cards, and eating cakes, and about 2:00 P. M. we 
passed a freighter going toward France. We went to bed 
very early. One certainly gets very dirty and sticky on one of 
these boats. The salt water when one gets it on one’s hands 
becomes very sticky and then all the dirt within reach clings 
to our hands. 

July 24, 1919:—We all got up about 6:00 and did our regu¬ 
lar mopping out after breakfast. We then played around on 
deck and at noon went through the same old thing. The 
weather is fine and the ocean calm but it is nevertheless hard 
to think of how long we are going to have to stay on the boat. 
I suppose that is because we are so anxious to get home. All 
of the fellows buy a great deal from the canteens, such as 
canned fruit, cakes, etc., at very high prices. We also read a 
great deal during the day and usually go to bed early. 

July 25, 1919:—Same old routine today, met a very small 
freight boat and saw a few more in the distance. We 
are not allowed up on 'A’ deck any more and the farther out 
ws get the more strict the rules become. The officers get tired 


A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


339 


in the want of something to do and then they issue a new 
order and watch the men’s discomforts as they try to carry 
out the orders. Time passes very, very slowly, conditions are 
getting worse and worse all the time and things are rotten in 
general. 

July 26, 1919:—Same old stuff, and they say that we are 
going to land tomorrow! We ran into a big school of dolphins 
today and I watched them for a long while. They certainly 
can handle themselves. I notice, too, that it is very much 
warmer than it was when we left France. The fellows 
seem to be content in the report that we reach the States some¬ 
time during the night and are not at all excited over the fact. 

July 27, 1919:—At 4:00 this morning we all got up and had 
our breakfasts, then we got all of our junk ready and took it 
forward on ‘C’ deck. I then put on a life-belt and ‘stalled’ that 
I was guarding the baggage, so that I could stay up on deck 

while we pulled in. Some of these d- officers chased all 

the rest of the fellows down in the hold and are going to make 
them stay there until we get in the harbor. Those fellows will 
not even get to see us enter the harbor at all. They finally did 
decide to let the fellows come up on deck until we sighted 
land and then they chased all of them down except a few of 
us who pulled the same ‘stall’ that we were guarding baggage. 
Finally some officer thought the guards were seeing too much 
and we were chased down stairs, but I was just in time for a 
good meal of corn, pork chops, potatoes, coffee and bread at 
our sailors’ table downstairs. After I got through eating I 
went up on ‘C’ deck and got all of my junk and brought it 
down to where we were eating. All of the other fellows had to 
leave theirs up on deck and I’ll bet half of their stuff is stolen 
when they go to look for it. We then swept our deck for the 
last time and then slipped up on deck and saw the Statue of 
Liberty as we passed. We had to slip through a hatchway get¬ 
ting up, but we got to see, nevertheless. We finally pulled in at 
Pier No. 3, Hoboken. All of the fellows then poured out on the 
deck and watched them tie fast. Many army officers were on 
the docks wearing three and four silver service stripes and 
you should have heard the fellows yell at them and call them 
yellow. Our little detail stayed on the boat and cleaned up for 
the petty officer who was so good to us on the way across. All 
of the troops got off and then Grafe and I got our junk from 

23—22902 



340 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


the petty officer, sent some telegrams and then hung around 
on the boat until the crowd was off the piers. We then got 
off the boat and joined the company. From there we were 
marched to a ferry boat pier and while we were waiting for 
the ferry boat the Red Cross gave us a meal of hard boiled 
eggs, sausage, coffee, ice-cream, potatoes and raisin pie. As 
we marched on to the ferry boat the K. of C. and the ‘Y’ 
passed out candy, cigarettes, handkerchiefs and many other 
little things. The weather has been fine and now it is very 
hot. When the ferry boat was loaded—and believe me they 
certainly load them—we went up the Hudson and first let men 
off who were going to Camp Merritt. We then came back 
down the river and stopped at the military pier for Camp 
Mills. We docked with the ferry boat about 4:00, but they 
would not let us off the boat until a train pulled in to take us 
to the camp, we were on the boat until 7:00 P. M. We got off 
the Martha Washington about 12:30 noon, and both the Age - 
memnon and the Mobile were already in at the docks; the 
Agememnon we saw in the harbor at Brest and the Mobile was 
coaling at Liverpool when we left. We finally got off the boat 
and as we filed through the passages going to the trains we 
were again loaded with food of all sorts. Since we have been 
in the States all they have done is fill us with food and Til bet 
half of us are sick tonight. I sat on the tender of the engine 
all the way out to Camp Mills and I sure got good and dirty 
but I did not care. The States certainly look good. When we 
got off the train at the camp we fell into ranks any way so 
that we could answer to a roll call and then we hiked to some 
barracks about a mile back in Camp Mills. Many of the fel¬ 
lows were met by their parents at Camp Mills. The bar¬ 
racks we got into were very good ones and only about two 
squares from the spot that we started from nearly two years 
ago. They were two-story structures equipped with cots, 
stoves and were very comfortable. We were there, however, 
only about two hours when we were sent over to the ‘decootyi- 
zer’ with our blankets and all of our clothes. When we went 
we put our clothes in a barracks bag and through the delouser 
it went. We then lined up with no clothes on and went 
through an examination for everything imaginable. When 
we came out we got our clothes, dressed and went back to the 
barracks. There we immediately went to bed, our first night 
in the States. 


CHAPTER XVII 
Home Again 

I stopped my diary on July 27th and the rest I shall write 
from what I remember. During the next few days we were 
kept very busy getting our old equipment turned in and 
checked off the lists. There is always a great deal of red 
tape procedure with anything one does connected with the 
government, and naturally this took time. All of our service 
records were then gone over by men (officers), stationed at 

Camp Mills for that special purpose; as they were marked 

> 

0. K. or passed, they came back to the company and those 
which were not right were held out and of course the whole 
company had to wait on those few; in some cases they would 
not be finished with them for two, three, and maybe ten days 
at a time. All of us then went through a physical examina¬ 
tion. We went over to the medical barracks where we went 
into a big dressing room and there we left our clothes. We 
then lined up in alphabetical order and passed the line of 
doctors. There was a doctor for everything that one could 
possibly have wrong with his physique and it took nearly a' 
half day for our whole company to go through the place. 

We were then called together and told to make up a list of 
the things that we wanted in the clothing line from the gov¬ 
ernment. Of course we did not get half what we asked for. 

During one afternoon, several of we men went with - 

Lindsey who is acting as supply Sergeant for us, to the big 
camp army warehouse where we got the issue of clothing that 
the government was going to give us. We all got a few pair 
of sox, an overcoat, a rain coat and any new clothes that we 
wanted to put on before we left. Many of we fellows tried to 
get a ‘45’ pistol but we had no luck. We would get up in the 
morning and find out that we had nothing to do until later in 
the day and then we would all go up to some of the big camp 
canteens where we would fill up on pie and ice-cream, oranges, 
apples, candy, cigars, cigarettes and any thing else that hap¬ 
pened to look good to us. I spent one whole afternoon in the 
barber shop trying to get straightened up so that I would look 
half way presentable when I arrived home. 


( 341 ) 



342 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


One afternoon Paul Hausmann and I took a walk over to 
Mitchell Field just to look over the planes they had. Planes 
can be seen at any time during the day here as they are always 
flying. While we were over at the fleld I saw a two-seater 
plane and decided to try and get a ride. When the Lieutenant 
came out I asked him what the chances were of getting a ride 
and he told me to hop in. I was only in my shirt sleeves and 
it certainly was cold. He took me for a nice ride way up the 
Hudson and all over New York and then looped the loop and 
did the tail spin before we came down. It was certainly a 
nice ride. That same evening our company spent the time 
writing out our discharges and I wrote out my own. 

On Friday afternoon of August 5th, 1919, our company 
lined up for discharge. We marched over to the little 
camp discharge office building and there we received back pay 
and travel money to where we lived. [William] Butler and I 
bought our tickets to Indianapolis there at the place of re¬ 
ceiving final pay and we immediately went out after being 
searched for army goods that did not belong to us and hired 
a machine to take us to New York. When we arrived in New 
York we immediately went to the Pennsylvania Station where 
we tried to get berths on the 9:00 P.M. train, there were none 
left. We then asked for berths on the train at 9:00 in the 
morning but we could get nothing but a drawing room so we 
took it. During the night I stayed at the Pennsylvania Hotel. 
There I had my suit pressed during the night. After my 
friend Hausmann and I had washed, we went down into the 
Grill Room of the Hotel where we shocked the waiter by eating 
something of everything he had. After we had eaten we 
played around on Broadway for awhile and then went to bed. 
I got up at 7:00, waited for the Frank Brothers Shoe Shop to 
open and bought a pair of cordovan shoes and then caught the 
train at 9:00. I had to run for the train; Butler had all of 

my junk already on the train so I was all set. -Gates, 

one of our University pals, had to go to Pittsburgh, so we took 
him in with us until he reached that place. There the train 
made a stop for an hour and we all piled off and limbered up. 
We got there about 3:00 P.M. While we were off the train 

we saw [Chester A.] Miles and-Wolfe and [Rudolph] 

Dellinger sitting in one of the day coaches preparing to sit up 
all night so we took them in our drawing room with us for the 




A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


343 


rest of the night. All the way home we played poker and I 
paid for my meals with my winnings. I got up at 6:00 in 
the morning and we were then at Knightstown, Ind. I put on 
my good suit, washed up and took a shave and at 7:00 we 
pulled into the Union Station, Indianapolis. After saying 
good-bye to the boys, Butler and I got off the train. I had no 
more than gotten off when who should I see but Herbert Piel 
who was waiting for Alma and Walter Sudbrock but they did 
not show up. Statia O’Connell was also at the station, so 
after the three of us had talked the thing over and quieted 
down, Herbert drove me home. I walked in on mother and 
‘Dad’ about 7:30, August 7th, and I had to get them out of 
bed. I am free of the army now and I certainly hope that I 
ever shall be. 



% 



at . 

V 


t 


. 


§ 

*:■ 


APPENDIX 


Official Station List 

When we reached Germany, there were no records showing list 
of overnight stopping places. I was delegated by Lieutenant Aloys 
Knaff of Battery A to go through my diary, and compile such a 
record. The record which I compiled, reproduced herewith, be¬ 
came the official list for Battery A of the 150th Field Artillery. 

Station list of Unit since arrival in A. E. F. 

Unit 150th F. A., Battery A.Arrived (France) October 31, 1917 

On Transport.U. S. S. President Lincoln 

Port of Debarkation.St. Nazaire 


Station (Nearest Town) 

Date 

Arrived 

Date Left 

St. Nazaire. 

.... Oct. 

31, 

1917 

Nov. 

4, 

1917 

Camp No. 1 (St. Nazaire). 


5, 

1917 

Nov. 

18, 

1917 

Camp de Coctquidan. 


18, 

1917 

Feb. 

21, 

1918 

Menarmont. 

.... Feb. 

23, 

1918 

Feb. 

26, 

1918 

Vaxainville. 

.... Feb. 

26, 

1918 

Mar. 

23, 

1918 

Fontenoy la Joute. 

.... Mar. 

23, 

1918 

Mar. 

29, 

1918 

Vaxainville. 


29, 

1918 

June 

20, 

1918 

Haillainville. 


21, 

1918 

June 

23, 

1918 

Charmes (Entrained). 


23, 

1918 

June 

23, 

1918 

Chalons (Entrained). 

.... June 

24, 

1918 

June 

24, 

1918 

Dampierre. 


24, 

1918 

June 

28, 

1918 

Somme Vesle. 


29, 

1918 

July 

4, 

1918 

Camp Chalons. 

.... July 

5, 

1918 

July 

19, 

1918 

Camp de la Carrie. 

.... July 

19, 

1918 

July 

21, 

1918 

Chalons (Entrained). 

.... July 

21, 

1918 

July 

21, 

1918 

Trilport (Detrained). 

.... July 

22, 

1918 

July 

22, 

1918 

Dhuisy. 

.... July 

23, 

1918 

July 

25, 

1918 

Verdilly (Woods). 

.... July 

25, 

1918 

July 

26, 

1918 

Courpoil. 

.... July 

26, 

1918 

July 

27, 

1918 

Beuvardes. 

.... July 

27, 

1918 

July 

30, 

1918 

Courtisol. 

.... July 

30, 

1918 

Aug. 

2, 

1918 

Villers sur Fere. 

- Aug. 

2, 

1918 

Aug. 

3, 

1918 

Chery Chartreuse. 

- Aug. 

3, 

1918 

Aug. 

11 , 

1918 

St. Germain (Woods). 

- Aug. 

11 , 

1918 

Aug. 

14, 

1918 

Vaux (Woods). 

- Aug. 

14, 

1918 

Aug. 

15, 

1918 

Dhuisy (Woods). 

.... Aug. 

15, 

1918 

Aug. 

16, 

1918 

Lizy (Woods). 

.... Aug. 

16, 

1918 

Aug. 

17, 

1918 

Lizy (Entrained). 

- Aug. 

17, 

1918 

Aug. 

17, 

1918 

Damblain (Detrained). 

.... Aug. 

18, 

1918 

Aug. 

18, 

1918 

Meuvy. 

- Aug. 

18, 

1918 

Aug. 

28, 

1918 


( 344 ) 



































A SERGEANT’S DIARY 345 


Station (Nearest Town) 

Date 

Arrived 

Date Left 

Robecourt. 


28, 

1918 

Aug. 

29, 

1918 

Bulgneville. 


29, 

1918 

Aug. 

30, 

1918 

Landaville. 


31, 

1918 

Sept. 

4, 

1918 

Fruizy (Woods). 


5, 

1918 

Sept. 

6, 

1918 

Moulpot (Woods). 


7, 

1918 

Sept. 

7, 

1918 

Mandres. 


7, 

1918 

Sept. 

12, 

1918 

Seicheprey. 


13, 

1918 

Sept. 

14, 

1918 

Beney. 


14, 

1918 

Sept. 

23, 

1918 

Bois de Nonsard. 


23, 

1918 

Oct. 

1, 

1918 

Troyon. 


1, 

1918 

Oct. 

1, 

1918 

Rambluzin. 


3, 

1918 

Oct. 

4, 

1918 

Bois de Brocourt. 


4, 

1918 

Oct. 

6, 

1918 

Bois de Montfaucon. 


6, 

1918 

Oct. 

7, 

1918 

Septsarges. 


7, 

1918 

Oct. 

10, 

1918 

Cierges. 


10, 

1918 

Oct. 

12, 

1918 

Charpentry. 


12, 

1918 

Oct. 

13, 

1918 

Exermont (Fleville). 


13, 

1918 

Oct. 

26, 

1918 

Sommerance (Fleville). 


26, 

1918 

Nov. 

3, 

1918 

Bar les Buzancy. 


4, 

1918 

Nov. 

10, 

1918 

Harricourt. 


10, 

1918 

Nov. 

14, 

1918 

Im6court. 


14, 

1918 

Nov. 

16, 

1918 

Ancirville. 


16, 

1918 

Nov. 

17, 

1918 

Breheville. 


17, 

1918 

Nov. 

20, 

1918 

Montmedy. 


20, 

1918 

Nov. 

21, 

1918 

Gomery (Belgium). 


21, 

1918 

Nov. 

22, 

1918 

Guirsch (Belgium). 


22, 

1918 

Nov. 

23, 

1918 

Sauel (Luxemburg). 


23, 

1918 

Dec. 

1, 

1918 

Brachied (Luxemburg). 


1, 

1918 

Dec. 

2, 

1918 

Rosport (Luxemburg). 

.... Dec. 

2, 

1918 

Dec. 

3, 

1918 

Kachenbach (Germany). 


3, 

1918 

Dec. 

4, 

1918 

Messerich (Germany). 


4, 

1918 

Dec. 

5, 

1918 

Sefferin (Germany). 


5, 

1918 

Dec. 

6, 

1918 

Murlenbach (Germany). 


6, 

1918 

Dec. 

7, 

1918 

Gerolstein (Germany). 

.... Dec. 

7, 

1918 

Dec. 

8, 

1918 

Kerpen (Germany). 

.... Dec. 

8, 

1918 

Dec. 

14, 

1918 

Antwieler (Germany). 


14, 

1918 

Dec. 

15, 

1918 

Honnengen (Germany). 


15, 

1918 

Dec. 

16, 

1918 

Bad Neuenahr (Germany). 

.... Dec. 

16, 

1918 





The Battery was still at Bad Neuenahr when I left for a British 
University, consequently I have no further list of stops. This list 
was made from my diary for the Battery record. 








































ABBREVIATIONS AND EXPRESSIONS 


A complete list of abbreviations and expressions used in this diary 
and their meanings. 


A. W. O. L...Absent without leave 

Corned Willie.Corned beef 

Char-de-Parcs...Very large material wagon 

Communique.Daily news 

Cannoniers.Gun crew men 

Charley-Horse.Stiff muscle 

Duds.Shells that do not explode 

Drivers.Drive teams 

Detail.Telephone and Observation Detail 

Echelon.Parking place 

Egg Baskets.Place where plane carries bombs 

Fourgon.Detail material wagon 

Frogs.French 

Fox Holes.Small holes for protection 

Fence-Post Review.Passing in review 

Feeding the Fish.Seasickness 

G. H. Q.:.General headquarters 

H. E. Shells.High explosive shells 

Iggy.••.A “no-brain” 

Jerries.Germans 

Jug or Brig.Prison 

Limbers.. Two front wheels to a piece 

“Lut”.Lieutenant 

M. Ps.Military Police 

N. C. O.Non-Commissioned Officer 

O. P.Observation Post 

Overs.Shells that go over 

One Pounder.One pound shell 

Post a Relief.Putting guards on post 

Policing....Cleaning up 

R C.Post Command 

Q- M.Quartermaster 

R- T. O.Railroad Transportation Officer 

Toot-Sweet.In a hurry 

Turtle Turret.Concrete Revolving Stationary Gun Emplacement 

Scope.Powerful field glass 

Scissors...A forked field glass 

Sketch.Freehand drawing 

Spare Line.....Extra horses 

Shave Tails.Second Lieutenants 

Stars and Stripes .Soldier’s newspaper 


( 346 ) 











































A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


347 


Snow.Army gossip 

Vin Rouge.-.Red wine 

Yellow.No nerve 

A 77.•.*.About a 3-in. shell—German 

A 75.A 3-in. shell—American 

A 155.A 6-in. shell—American 

A 120.A little over 4-in. shell—German 

B. C. Detail.Battery Commander’s Detail 











INDEX 


Aberfoyle, Scotland, 318. 
Agamemnon, U.S.S., 340. 

Ahr, River, 241; valley of, 242, 
250, 251, 257, 260, 261, 267, 276. 
Ahrweiler, 242, 267. 

Aincreville, 222. 

Airplanes, 47, 51, 64, 73, 74, 75, 
78, 85, 87, 96, 97, 104, 117, 125, 
128, 134, 142, 187, 192; ride in, 
342. 

Alabama, Infantry, 72, 126, 134, 
136, 195. 

Allen, Paul H., 166. 

American Consulate, Glasgow, 304. 
American Magazine , 197, 252. 
Amiens, 150. 

Ammunition, 45, 73, 74, 98. 
Ancerville, 73. 

Angers, 18, 19. 

Anslerville, 54. 

Anthony, Lieut.-, 324. 

Antwiller, 241. 

“Apollinaris Brunnen”, 242, 259. 
Apollinaris Mineral Springs Co., 
249, 251. 

Arensman, Charles F., 272. 
Argonne Woods, 190. 

Arlington Athletic Club & Bath, 
Glasgow, 301. 

Arlon, 226. 

Armentiers, 277, 278. 

Armstrong, Herman R., 33, 104, 
165. 

Arran, Isles of, 308. 

Athis, 157. 

Auberive, 124. 

Auberive-sur-Suippe, 117. 

Aurine, George A., 83, 86, 175; 

gassed, 200. 

Austria, 150, 219. 

Ayr, Scotland, 317. 

Ayres, Myron C., 273. 

Azerailles, 87. 

Baccarat, 43, 45, 55, 57, 73, 78, 81, 
87, 93, 94, 95. 

Baker, Ellis J., 205. 

Balloch, 318. 

Balloons, observation, 80; propa¬ 
ganda, 84, 89, 115. 

Ballweg, Pauline, 94. 

Barbas, 91, 100, 101. 

Barbett Cottage, 197. 

Barbour, Capt. Humphrey A., 127, 
134, 148, 180, 193. 


Barcus, Earl R., 110. 

Bar-le-Duc, 105. 

Bar-les-Buzancy, 214, 218. 

Barrage fire, 47, 55, 72, 74, 123, 
209. 

Base Hospital No. 101, 15, 16, 17, 
18; No. 27, 18. 

Bassett, Edwin H., 22, 26, 29, 32, 
34, 37, 44, 48, 60, 68, 78. 

Battery A (150th Field Artillery), 
11, 14, 15, 16, 22, 27, 31, 36, 39, 
48. 

Battery A Club organized, 271. 
Bauler, Herr, 235. 

Baupaume, 173. 

Bazoches, 148, 150. 

Bear Cafe, 284. 

“Bear’s Paw”, 284, 286, 328. 
Beignon, 32, 36. 

Belfast, Ireland, 311, 312, 315. 

Bell, Capt. -, 319. 

Belleau Wood, 153. 

Belle Vue Cafe, 26, 34. 

Bells of Shannon, 314. 

Benamenil, 96. 

Beney, 176, 177, 178, 180. 

Ben Lomond, Nevis, Ledi, 318. 
Berauer, Wilbur; first shot of Bat¬ 
tery A, 150th F.A., fired by, 48, 
201 . 

Berry, Cleston G., 267. 

Beuvardes, 136; devastation of, 
137; 139, 153. 

Biddle, Leo A., 78, 138, 259. 

‘Big Bertha,’ gun used to bombard 
Paris, 153, 154. 

Birmingham, England, 284. 
Blainville, 41. 

Blamont, 79, 91. 

Bland, Congressman Oscar E., 132. 
Blarney Castle, 313. 

Blarney Stone, 313. 

Blesmes, 105. 

Blevaincourt, 162. 

Bois-de-Nonsard, 180. 
Bois-de-Trion, 92. 

Boissy, 40. 

Bonafield, Lieut. -, 178. 

Bond, -, 299, 317, 320, 323. 

Bonn, 260, 276. 

Borst, Elizabeth, 270, 297. 

Borst, George, 287. 

Bosson, John U., 27, 50, 52, 102. 
Bosson, Richard M., 11, 13, 47, 74. 
Bourchult, 157. 


( 349 ) 







350 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Boxing contest, Americans vs. Can¬ 
adians, 260. 

Bozell, Glenn, 187. 

Brashied, 232. 

Brasse, 157. 

Bread, allotment to French, 58. 
Breheville, 223. 

Brest, France, 330, 334. 

Brickel, Harry (Mike), 68, 159. 
Brides, War, 327, 329. 

Brie-Comte, Robert, 40. 
Brig-o-Doon, 317. 

Brig-o-Turk, 318. 

British Flying Corps, Royal, 162. 
Brouville, 77, 87. 

Brown’s, Danny, Glasgow, 302, 303, 
304. 

Brown, Hilton U., 195. 

Brown, Otis E., 121, 127. 

Brown’s Tea House, Glasgow, 300. 
Bruhl, 276. 

Bruning, William H., 25, 28, 29, 
32, 36, 41, 48, 51, 61, 66, 67, 74, 
121, 161, 320, 329. 

Brunner, Albert R., 78. 

Brussels, 276, 277. 

Bruz, 39. 

Buckingham Hotel, Royal, 279. 
Budd, Alger, 76. 

Bulgneville, 162. 

Burgess,-, 293, 298. 

Burns, Robert, home of, 317. 
Bushmann, Frank, 252. 

Bute, Kyles of, Scotland, 301, 307. 
Butler, William, 335, 342. 

Buzancy, devastation of, 214. 

Calais, 277, 278. 

Caledonian Station, 309. 

Cambridge University, 268. 

Camp Coctquidan, 19; cemetery, 
34, 40. 

“Camp de Carrie”, 128. 

Camp Knotty-Ash, 281. 

Camp Merritt, 340. 

Camp Mills, L. I., 12, 47, 340, 341. 
Camp Pontanezen, 331, 334. 
Carmania, 328. 

Carter, Major Solon J., 28. 

Casey,-, 78. 

Censorship of letters lifted, 229. 
Chalons, 105, 127, 128, 130, 157. 

Chambers, Lieut. -, 178. 

Champagne Front, 124, 132. 
Champinaulle, 213. 
Changis-sur-Marne, 157. 

Chantenay, 18. 

Chapin, Miss-, 310. 

Chaplin, Charlie, “Shoulder Arms”, 
284; “The Show”, “The Scan¬ 
dal”, 285. 


Charing Cross, 289. 

Charleroi, 277. 

Charmes, 104. 

Chartres, 40. 

Chateaubourg, 39. 

Chateau-de-St. Marie, 73, 79, 85, 
86, 89, 90, 95. 

Chateau Thierry, 107, 130, 131, 
132, 133, 140, 155, 157. 

Chatel, 103. 

Chatillon, 157. 

Cheppy, 194. 

Chery, 145, 150, 152. 

Chevron, gold service, 87, 207. 

Chicago Herald, 198. 

Chicago Mail, 198. 

Chicago Tribune, 108, 198. 

Chilcote, Guy F., 151, 217. 

Choisy, 40. 

Christmas, boxes, 246; dinner and 
entertainment, 1917, 21; dinner 
and entertainment, 1918, 247; 
mail, 20. 

Citry, 157. 

Clapp, Werrill G., 206. 

Clefmont, 159, 162. 

Clift, Lieut. Charles D., 29, 30, 59, 
65, 67, 113. 

Clift, Clarence E., 13, 52, 60, 67, 
102, 121, 156. 

Clyde River, 306, 311, 

Coblenz, 242, 262, 271, 272. 

Coleman, Leslie H., 27, 31, 52, 60, 
64, 112, 124; gassed, 205. 

Collins, Miss -, 295. 

Cologne, 276, 277. 

Comes, Herr, 251, 254, 256. 

Comes, Maria, 255, 256, 257. 

Communique, French, 65, 97. 

Connell, Latham W., 68, 76, 77, 
104; gassed, 200. 

Contrexville, 159. 

Cooke, Vaughn, 150. 

Coolie, Chinese, French truck 
trains driven by, 155. 

‘Cooties’, 180, 187, 218, 220; ‘de- 
cootyizer’, 340. 

Coridan, Edwin F., 57. 

Coridan, Eugene L., 263. 

Cork, 313. 

Cormac, General, University of 
Glasgow, 292. 

‘Corned Willie’, 14, 44, 130, 132, 
218. 

Cosmopolitan, 184. 

Courtney, Miss -, 322, 324. 

Court Theatre, 283. 

Craigmore, 306. 

Cranston Lounging Room, 325; 
Picture House, 321; Tea House, 
299, 301. 








A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


351 


Creve, England, 281. 

Customs Collecting office, Glasgow, 

304. 

Cyrus, Edgar, 259. 

Daillecourt, 162. 

Daily, Lieut. Field, 178. 

Damblain, 157, 162. 

Damery, 157. 

Dampvitoux, 177. 

Dawson, Lieut. James I., 218, 249. 
Daylight, saving, France, 49, 274; 
Scotland, 293. 

Dean, Orel, killed in action, 138. 
‘Death Valley’, 199. 

Dellinger, Rudolph, 282, 297, 304, 
320. 

Devastated areas, 133, 137, 144, 
145, 194. 

Dewar, Ernest, 295, 298, 303, 305, 
308. 

Dewar, Mary, 295, 298, 305, 308. 
Dewar, Mongo, 295, 297, 298, 301, 
302, 303, 305, 308, 310. 

Dewar, Murray, 291, 294, 295, 301, 

305, 323. 

Dhuisy, 131, 155. 

Dill, Egleasheao H., wounded, 138. 
Diry, 157. 

Dolphins, schools of, 337. 

Domevre, 53; devastation of, 75, 
79, 91, 92. 

Dommartin, 177. 

Dommeldingen, 228. 

Dormans, 157. 

Dover, 279. 

Drill schedule, ‘rest camp’, 161. 
Dublin, 312, 314, 319. 

Dug-outs, building of new, 85, 189; 

size of, 49; 67, 71. 

Duncluse Castle, 312. 

Dunlop, Claude C., 300, 316, 327. 

Dunn, Lieut.-, 28, 59. 

Duval, 52, 66, 67, 68, 70, 72, 73, 74, 
76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83. 

Easter Day, April 20, 1919, 299. 
Edinburgh Castle, 320. 

Edinburgh, University, 283; 286, 
296, 298, 316, 318, 319, 324. 

Eiffel Tower, 40, 131. 

Echternach, 234. 

Eightieth Division, 211. 
Eighty-second Division, 215. 
Eighty-ninth Division, 179. 

Ellen’s Isle, 318. 

Ellington Hotel, 315. 

Ellis, John C., 84, 222. 

Empire Theatre, Glasgow, 302, 303, 
324, 328. 

Engineers, One Hundred Seven¬ 
teenth, 50. 


England, 150. 

Epernay, 157. 

Epieds, 153. 

Essey, 173, 174, 176. 

Ettrick Bay, 308. 

Euston Station, 280, 281. 

Examination, physical, 341. 

Exermont, 194, 264. 

Felt, Truman T., gassed, 200. 

Fere-en-Tardenois, 139; devasta¬ 
tion of, 144, 153. 

Fields, -, 285. 

First Aid Station, 124, 135. 

Fisher, James, 40. 

Fismes, 235. 

Fleville, devastation of, 198; 202, 
204. 

Flora, Hotel, 245. 

Flowers, E. E., 335. 

Folkstone, 279. 

Fontenoy, 57, 61, 62, 102. 

Food, 130, 132; French cooking, 
158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 165, 169, 
175, 184, 186, 207, 226, 228; 
Thanksgiving dinner, 231; Ger¬ 
man cooking, 235, 238, 256. 

Fort Benjamin Harrison, mustered 
in, 11; 12. 

Forth Bridge, Firth of, 320. 

Forty-second Division, 107, 154. 

Fourgon, 26, 27, 31, 32, 33, 36, 38, 
39, 42, 50, 56, 101, 113. 

Fox, James V., 84, 86, 90. 

Frank Brothers Shoe Shop, 342. 

Frazier, Miss -, 328. 

Free, Lieut.-, 162. 

French, Independence Day, 124; 
Red Cross, 40. 

Garlock, 318. 

Gartcosh, stock farm, 309. 

Gas, alarm, 75, 83, 89; Phosgene, 
100; signal for attack, 48; tear, 
53, 151. 

Gasper, Lieut. Vernon, 11. 

Gates, -, 342. 

Gelacourt, 61, 66, 67, 70, 73, 76, 77, 
78, 80, 86, 87, 98, 99, 100, 101. 

George, Rogers H., 22, 35, 36, 76, 
77. 

George Washington, 334. 

Germans, canteen, 174; casualties, 
125, 126; depreciation German 
mark, 258; drive begun by, 121; 
offensive begun by, 57; peace 
terms, 195; prisoners, 20, 39, 
209, 212; raid over Charmes, 
104; retreat, 143, 144; women 
vote, 259. 

Gerolstein, 238. 







352 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Giant’s Causeway, 312. 

Gillespie, Boyd, 115; gassed, 207. 
Gillespie, Bryant, 22, 26, 28, 31, 
35, 37, 48, 51, 90. 

Gimmeldingen, 261, 270, 273. 

Gland, 157. 

Glasgow, 286, 287; Botanical Gar¬ 
dens, 299; Cathedral, 317; Uni¬ 
versity, 288; 290, 293, 309, 311, 
315, 318, 320, 323. 

Goatfell Mountain, 308. 

Gomery, 225, 226. 

Grafe, Paul, 283, 320, 327. 

Grand Hotel, 287, 320. 

Grand Pre, 219. 

Great Northern Station, Belfast, 
312. 

Green, Norvin E., 253, 267. 

Grosse Sprudel, 272. 

Grovesnor Grill room, 319. 

Guer, 19, 26, 27, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 
44, 45. 

Guichen, 39. 

Guirsch, inhabitants, 226. 

Hablainville, 50. 

Hageville, 177. 

Haillainville, 102, 103. 

Hampden Park, 302. 

“Hand Grenade Ann”, 265. 

Harrell, Lieut. -, 61. 

Harricourt, 218, 219. 

Harrison, Major P., 35. 

Hasselman, Lieut. Victor M., 12, 
15. 

Hastings, Frank T., 59, 197. 
Hattonchatel, 184. 

Haumont, 177. 

Hausmann, Paul, 327, 329, 332, 
342. 

Havre, Le, 278. 

Hayes, Robert G., wounded, 191. 
Heilbran, Albert, 290, 294, 309. 

Helt, -, 97. 

Hempstead, L. I., 12. 

Henderlite, -, 328. 

Henderson, James (?), 305, 319, 
325. 

Henderson, Major Vivian, Glas¬ 
gow, 302. 

Henlore, 323. 

Herbesthal, 276, 277. 

Hill, Prescott W., 35, 175. 

Hoboken, 13, 339. 

Holliday, Mary E., 217. 

Honningen, 242. 

“Hoosier Follies”, 264. 

Hoover, Charles Julian, 51; award¬ 
ed Croix de Guerre, 62, 81, 166. 
Horses, lack of food for, 196, 197. 
Hosea, Roy E., 66, 138. 


Hotel, Ellington, 315; Flora, 245; 
Grand, 287, 320; International, 
314; Kanes, 312; Maritime, 278; 
Moderne, 19, 20; Palace, 272; 
Providence, 165; Rheingold, 243; 
Royal Buckingham, 279; Uni¬ 
verse, 29. 

Hound, H.M.S., 311. 

House of Parliament, 279. 

Hudson River, 13, 340. 

Hughes, -, 297, 320. 

Huy, 277. 

Hydro, Kyles of Bute, 306, 309. 

Incourt, devastation of, 221. 
Independence Day, French, 124. 
Indiana University, 11. 
Indianapolis, 342, 343. 

Indianapolis Star, 65, 84, 115, 193. 
Inneland, Scotland, 306. 
International Hotel, 314. 
Inversnaid, 318. 

Iowa, ‘doughboys’, 134, 136. 

Ireland, 297, 311. 

Jalons-les-Vignes, 157. 

Japan, 150. 

Johannas, Ervin M., wounded, 191. 
Johannesburg, 257. 

Johnston, -, 191, 337. 

Jolly, Thomas, 333, 335. 

Jones, Lieut.-, 309. 

Jordan, Fred W., 182. 

Jordan, ‘Pop’, 287, 309, 312, 313, 
315, 321, 327. 

Judge Trench Christmas Associa¬ 
tion, 94. 

Kaiserhof, 272, 273. 

Kane’s Hotel, 312. 

Kashenbach, 234, 235. 

Kaufmann Cigar Store, 251. 
Knights of Columbus, 337, 340. 

Kennedy, -, 337. 

Keppokhill Golf Course, 321. 
Kerpen, 238. 

Killarney, 313, 314. 

King’s Cafe, 281. 

King’s Theatre, Glasgow, 298, 325. 
Knaff, Lieut. Aloys, 12, 32, 59, 64, 
71, 101, 113. 

Knightstown, Ind., 343. 

Kniptash, Vernon, 24, 35, 57, 247. 
Kunkler, Lawrence E., 131, 189. 
‘Kurhaus’, bath-house, 244, 245, 
246, 247, 251, 257, 258, 259, 262, 
264, 269, 271. 

Kyll River, 236. 

Lachaussee, 177. 

Lady of the Lake country, 318. 










A SERGEANT'S DIARY 


353 


Lamkin, Russell H., 71, 79, 89, 157. 
Landau, 261. 

Landeville, 163. 

Lapland, 328. 

Lauder, Harry, estate of, 306. 
Laval, 39. 

Leach, Col. -, commanding 

1st Battalion, 177. 

LeCenest, 39. 

Lee River, Ireland, 314. 

Le Mans, 19, 40. 

Lesh, Perry W., 13, 54, 55, 60, 66, 
75, 84, 118, 121, 128. 

Les Lacs, 39. 

Letters received, 20, 21, 25, 26, 31, 
32, 47, 49, 64, 65, 66, 70, 71, 75, 
79, 86, 93, 107, 108, 115, 163, 
207, 216; censorship lifted, 229; 
242, 246, 271, 295, 303, 319, 323. 
Liege, 277. 

Lille, 198, 199, 277. 

Lincoln, President, U.S.S., Trans¬ 
port, 13, 14; sunk, 93. 

Lindsey, -, 341. 

Lilly Base Hospital No. 32, 159, 
162. 

Liverpool, England, 280, 281, 286, 
296, 327, 328. 

Lizy, 131, 156, 157. 

Lizy-sur-Ourcq, 156, 157. 

Loch Arde, Earn, Katrine, Voil, 
318 

London, 279, 280, 284, 298. 

London University, 328. 

Long, Benjamin L., 286, 327. 

Long, -, 316. 

Longueville, 40, 105. 

Loomis, Emerson K., 229. 

Lord of the Isles, 306. 

Lorraine Front, 197. 

Lumpkin, Chester, 84, 272. 
Luneville, 57, 80, 91. 

Luss, 318. 

Luxemburg, 227, 228, 229, 230, 277. 
Lynch, Fleming, 71. 

McCrea, Mr. and Mrs., 308. 

McKay, Robert L., wounded, 191. 
MacQueen, Mrs., 295. 

Magruder, Edward S., 164. 

Mail, soldiers’, 20, 21, 25, 26, 31, 
32, 47, 49, 64, 65, 66, 70, 71, 75, 
79, 86, 93, 107, 108, 115, 163, 
207, 216, 242, 246, 271, 295, 303, 
319, 323. 

Mallow, 314. 

Mandres, 169, 181. 

Mann, Wilbur, 296, 320. 

Maps, sector, 119. 

Mareuil, 157. 

Marimbois Farm, 177. 


Marines, French, 54, 209. 

Maritime Hotel, 278. 

Markers, trail designated by, 112, 
158, 163, 166. 

Marlborough House, 316, 322, 323. 
Marne River, 106, 133. 

Martha Washington, U.S.S., 334, 
335, 340. 

Maure, 39. 

Mauritania, 303. 

Maxwell, Howard H., 93, 142, 179. 
Maxwell, John C., 327. 

Maxwell, Leslie H., 251. 

Mecy, 157. 

Meavy, 162. 

Memorial Day, 90. 

Menarmont, 41, 44, 62. 

Mersch, 229, 231. 

Merviller, 87. 

Messac, 39. 

Messerich, 235. 

Metropole Hotel, 313. 

Migneyville, 77, 91, 92, 99, 100. 
Miles, Chester A., 286, 324, 327. 
Miles, James A., 104, 263. 

Miller, Gordon E., 33, 222. 

Miller, Capt. Sidney S., 12, 16, 22, 
23, 24, 25, 29, 48, 65; Major, 71; 
79, 116, 127, 134, 148, 156, 161, 
166, 172, 177, 200, 213, 245, 259. 
Mingueville, 53. 

Mitchell Field, 342. 

Mitchell, Mr. -, 308. 

“Model Camp?” 12. 

Mobile, 340. 

Moderne, Hotel, 19, 20. 

Mons, 277. 

Mont Ellen, 310. 

Montenque, 30. 

Montfaucon, 189, 190, 192, 196. 
Montigny, 46, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55. 
Montigny-Migneville Road, 97. 
Montmedy, 224. 

Montsec, 176. 

Mooney, Edward P., 35. 

Moore, Karl F., 53, 61, 81, 83, 142. 

Moores,-, 335. 

Moorman, Carl, 79, 81, 84, 91, 97, 
98, 119; gassed, 200. 

Morgan, Wilbur B., 11, 25, 26, 28, 
31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 44, 46, 47, 
50, 54, 55, 59, 267. 

Mormant, 40. 

Moselle River, 103, 167, 168, 233. 
Mother’s Day, observance of, 79. 
Moulden, Claude, 92, 102, 149. 
Mullikin, Paul W., 129, 164, 248. 
Murlenbach, 236. 

Murlenbach, Herr, 236; attitude 
toward peace, 237. 

Mussey, 105. 







354 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Namur, 277. 

Nancy, 166. 

Nantes, 18. 

Nangis, 40. 

Nash, Chaplain -, 267. 

Necropolis, Glasgow, 316. 

Neff, Chester, 248. 

Nelson Pier, 328. 

Nesles 145. 

Neuenahr, 242, 244, 249, 262, 271. 

Neufchateau, 157, 163, 164, 166, 
216. 

Neu Stadt, 261. 

New Savoy, Glasgow, picture show, 
298, 302; tea house, 300, 304; 
319 321 

New Year's Celebration, 252. 

New York City, 12, 342. 

New York Daily Mail (Paris Edi¬ 
tion) 96. 

New York Herald (Paris Edition), 
16, 96. 

Nogentel, 157. 

‘No Man’s Land’, 45, 48, 67, 68, 
77, 79, 81, 85, 89, 117, 133, 169, 
173. 

Non-coms school, 22, 32. 

Nonsard, 180, 181, 185. 

Norfolk, England, 323. 

North Sea, 57. 

Noyal, 39. 

Observation posts, camouflaging of, 
79; fired on by German machine 
guns, 88; forward, 116; French, 
92; name of, 97; stationed at, 
124; 20, 30, 31, 32, 33, 52, 53, 
66, 68, 74, 177. 

O’Connell, Statia, 343. 

Officers’ Training Camp, Second, 

11 . 

Ogerviller, 96. 

One Hundred Fifty-first Field Ar¬ 
tillery, 47, 49. 

Ostende, 198, 199. 

Ouden, 18. 

Ouve Rouge, 80. 

Paars, 150. 

Palace Hotel, 272. 

Pannes, 171, 173, 174, 176, 179. 

Paris, 16, 40, 59, 131, 153, 272. 

Password, 88. 

Passy, 157. 

Peace, first news of, 195; newspa¬ 
per report, 215, 217; Germany 
accepts terms, 219. 

Pavant, 157. 

Pennsylvania Hotel, N.Y., 342. 

Pennsylvania Station, 342. 

Perry, Dorothy L., 320, 321, 328. 


Pershing, Gen. John J., 25, 79, 201. 
Perth, 296. 

Pettonville, 97. 

Picadilly Cafe, 280. 

Piel, Lena, 320. 

Piel, Herbert, 343. 

Pitsenburger, Earl, 78. 

Pittsburgh, stop-over at, 342. 
Plattsburg, U.S. Transport, 327. 
Plechatel, 39. 

Pl e l an 27 

Poe Edgar Allan, Tales of, 297. 
Poincaire, President, 225. 

Poncare, 30. 

Port-a-Binson, 157. 

Port Bannatyne, Scotland, 306, 310, 
314. 

Portrush, Ireland, 312. 

Port Brillet, 39. 

Potter, Farrell E., 110, 130, 146, 
156, 175. 

Powell, Mrs. -, Covington, 

Ky., 280. 

Prather, Jonas F., 164, 193, 202. 
Prisoners, German, 20, 39, 209, 212, 
277. 

Procter, James W., 206. 
Propaganda leaflets, 206. 
Providence, Hotel, 165. 

Queen’s College, Cork, 314. 

Queen Victoria Castle, 306. 

Rambervillers, 41, 62. 

Red Book, 197. 

Red Cross, nurses, 17; station, 135; 
169. 

Reherrey, 64, 65, 66, 78, 95. 
Remagen, 276. 

Rennes, 19, 28, 39. 

Rheims, 114, 128. 

Rheingold, Hotel, 243, 270. 
Rheinnercherhof Cafe, 272, 274. 
Rhine River, 242, 249, 250, 253, 
258, 267. 

Riegen, 274. 

Rieley, Col.-, 139, 178. 

Riker, Lieut. -, 263. 

Ringstead, Rosard, 323. 

Ripple, Waldo, 320. 

Ritchie, Kent Stephenson, acci¬ 
dentally shot, 34. 

Rob Roy Country, 318. 

Robecourt, 162. 

Roberts, Harold K., 24, 26, 35, 37, 
128, 264. 

Rockets, used in barrage, 123. 

Roderick, -, interpreter, 58, 

60. 

Roeder, Mrs. Anna, 71. 

Rolampont, 61. 







A SERGEANT’S DIARY 


355 


Romilly, 40. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 255, 267. 
Rosport, 233. 

Rotary Club, Glasgow, 287, 288, 
290, 291, 310, 323. 

Rothesay, 306, 307, 309. 

Royal Avenue Hotel, 312, 315. 
Royal Theatre, 285, 291, 302. 
Ruovess, 163. 

Ruso, -, Roumanian comrade, 

90. 

Rust, (Mutt) Lloyd, 164, 262. 

Saar River, 234. 

Sailing orders, 334. 

St. Baussant, 173. 

St. Benoit, 183. 

St. Ditzier, 157. 

St. Enoch Station, 293, 298. 

St. George, destruction of, 200. 

St. George’s Square, Glasgow, 291. 
St. Hilaire, 116, 123, 124, 126, 127, 
130. 

St. Julien, 177. 

St. Juvin, 213. 

St. Mihiel Sector, 169, 171. 

St. Milo, 30, 31. 

St. Omer, 277, 278. 

St. Nazaire, 14, 15, 17, 18, 252. 
Salon, 322. 

Salvation Army, 169; canteen, 331, 
333. 

Saul, 227, 228, 231. 

Savenay, 17, 18. 

Schmidt, Erhest W., 263. 

Scott, Capt. Clair, 178. 

Scott, Paul J., 135. 

Scott, Sir Walter, 318. 

Secrist, George B., 151. 

Sedan, 215. 

Sefferen, 235. 

Seicheprey, 173, 175. 

Seine River, 40, 94. 

Semaphore, 11, 12. 

Seringes, 145. 

Sermaize-les-Bains, 105. 

Servon, 39. 

Seventy-seventh Division, 215. 

Shell burst, narrow escape from, 
82; 125, 141, 204. 

Shenk, Henry D., 318, 327, 335. 
Shine, William J., 34, 52. 

Shinn, Oakley E., 248. 

Shockley, Earl, 143. 

Shultz, Harry, 277. 

Simms, Joseph L., 95, 104, 130. 
Simms, Kenneth, 94, 151, 274. 
Sinzig, 250. 

Sir Walter Scott , 318. 

Skidmore, John M., 14, 53, 70, 81, 
129, 138, 265; killed in action 
August 31, 1918. 


Somme Front, 80, 81. 

Sommerance, 202, 203, 204, 205, 

208, 209, 217. 

Somme Vesle, 109, 112, 128. 
Sourbier, Walter, 216. 

Spa, 244. 

Stammer, Charles, 187. 

Stanton, Lieut.-, 77. 

Stars and Stripes, 160. 

Station list, official, 253, 344. 
Statue of Liberty, 13, 339. 
Steinborn, Franz, 270. 

Stepheson, -, Color Sgt., 278. 

Stevens, Lieut.-, 70. 

Stevenson, Lieut.-, 135, 162, 

194. 

Stirling, 316, 317. 

Stokes, Mr. and Mrs., 295. 
Stornachlacker, 318. 

Strassburg, 211. 

Straub, Emma, 270. 

Straub, Frank, 270. 

Sturdevant, Harry A., 188. 
Souveniers, from German, prison¬ 
ers, 209. 

Sudbrock, Alma, 343. 

Sudbrock, Walter, 343. 

“Suffering Suez”, password, 88. 
Suippes, 112, 128. 

Syrus, Edgar, 33. 

Tam-o-Shanter Inn, 317. 

Tanks, 175. 

Target practice, 21. 

Taylor, Capt. Theodore, 102, 166, 
268. 

Telephone detail, repairing of line, 
82. 

Tesher, George M., 270. 

Testament, 50. 

Thames River, 279. 

Thanksgiving dinner, 231. 

Third Division, 148, 150. 

Thomas, Leroy R., Ill, 159, 248. 
Thomkins, Belmont, gassed, 200. 
Tighnabruich, Bay of, 307. 

Toul Sector, 105, 166, 167, 168, 181. 
Tournay, 277. 

Toward Point, 306. 

Trafalgar Square, 279. 

Trenches, Straub lost in first line, 
69. 

Trinkets, taken from prisoners, 

209. 

Trossack Mountains, 318. 

Trotter, Lieut. Clarence E., 12, 36, 
48, 52, 61, 65, 66, 67, 71, 77, 78, 
85, 161. 

Troyes 40, 130. 

Turner, Amos, 211. 

Turner, Fred W., 37, 106, 156; 
gassed, 200. 







356 


INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS 


Tuscania, 316. 

Two-ten Shell Burst, 82. 

Tyndall, Col. Robert H., 79, 155, 
178, 234, 252, 256, 261. 

Under-Champs, 80, 91. 

Universe, Hotel, 29. 

University, ‘Doughboys’ given op¬ 
portunity to attend French or 
British, 268. 

University of Paris, 73. 

Vallandingham, Lieut.-, 27, 

28, 72, 121. 

Vaux, devastation of, 133, 155. 
Vauxtin, 149, 150. 

Vaxainville, 50, 67, 77, 92. 
Verdenal, 79, 80. 

Verdun, 114, 185, 186. 

Verneiul, 40. 

Vermont Hut, 333. 

Verpel, 213. 

Victoria Railway Station, 279. 
Vigneulles, 184. 

Villa Edne, 261. 

Villers-sur-Meuse, 186. 

Vincent, Charles E., wounded, 191. 
“Vin Rouge”, 103, 119. 

Virton, 225. 

Vitre, 39. 

Vitry-le-Francois, 105. 

Vitz, Karl, 262. 

Von Burg, Arthur J., 248. 

Wainwright, Major Guy M., 116, 
119, 137. 


Wallace Monument, 317. 

War Brides, 327, 329. 

Waterloo Post Office, 304. 

Waterloo Station, 279, 280. 

Webster, Lieut. -, 316. 

Welsh, Thomas J., 263. 

Wemyss Bay, Scotland, 306, 309, 
311. 

Westminster Abbey, 279. 

Wheeler, Henry T, 253, 274. 

Wigan, 286, 287. 

Williams, Bransby, Dickens im¬ 
personator, 294. 

“Willibrodues”, 272. 

Wilson, Barbara, Glasgow, 300, 
304, 309, 324, 325. 

Winchester, England, 275, 279. 
Winters, Matthew, 179. 

Winton House, 315. 

Wolfe, -, 342. 

Wolfson, Daniel Isador, 154. 
Woman Suffrage in Germany, 259. 
Wrestling matches, American vs. 

English, 260. 

Wright, Alonzo E., 277. 

Wyle, Lieut.-, 214. 

Xammes, 177, 180. 

Y.M.C.A., 15, 28, 36, 37, 50, 66, 78, 
81, 87, 96, 132, 169, 180, 193, 245, 
271, 280, 304. 

Young, Byron C., 129, 160, 164, 
187, 272. 

Ypres, No. 1 target at, 66. 

York, Cecil L., 95, 168, 248, 257. 






■ 











































































































Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 


Treatment Date: MAY 


2001 


PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

ill Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16068 
(724) 779-2111 































































